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LIBRARY OF OOTSGRESSSl 

UNITED ST A T ES M AM £ B I C A . J 



DAYSPRING IN THE 
FAR WEST. 



SKETCHES OF MISSION-WORK IN 
NORTH-WEST AMERICA. 



By M. E. J. 

With Twenty-four Engravings and a Map. 



... " Nov vain their hope ; bright beaming through the sky, 

Burst in full blaze the Dayspring from on high. 

Earth's utmost isles exulted at the sight, 

And crowding nations drank the Orient light." 

Bishop Hebe/s Palestine. 




LONDON : 

SEELEY, JACKSON, AND HALLIDAY. 
1875. 



LONDON : 

ilbert and rivington, printers, 
st. John's square. 



TO 



BESSIE AND RUTH MORLEY 
this Utile gook 

IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 



v 



PREFACE. 



N offering this little book to the public, the 
object the writer has in view is to present to 
her readers a comprehensive outline of the 
work accomplished in North- West America by the 
Church Missionary Society; work, of which she be- 
lieves too little is known and understood. That she 
has said so little about the work accomplished at Red 
River is owing to the fact that she was restricted 
from taking up the ground so admirably occupied by 
Miss Tucker in " The Rainbow of the North." She 
has therefore merely given an outline of the early 
history of the Settlement, and contrasted its present 
condition of prosperity, and religious and educational 
advantages, with the ignorance and barbarism which 
prevailed when the first missionaries arrived in thu 




vi 



Preface. 



Settlement. That the emigrants from this country to 
Central British America are now supplied with churches 
and faithful pastors, as well as the means of educating 
their children, is owing in a great measure to the 
labours of the Church Missionary Society ; for the 
churches and schools originally provided for the Indian 
population have passed on to the church organization of 
the colony, as the advancing tide of white men has 
driven the Indian further West. The writer does 
not claim for her work any originality. It has been 
compiled from the manuscript letters and journals of 
the Missionaries themselves, which were kindly placed 
at her disposal by the Committee of the Church 
Missionary Society. She has also made free use of 
the information contained in the publications of the 
Society, to which she has added such descriptions of 
the country, derived from the most trustworthy sources, 
as give an additional interest to the narrative. For 
much valuable information respecting the country, its 
people, climate, scenery, resources, &c, she is indebted 
to the books of which a list is appended. She 
prefers thus to acknowledge her obligations, rather 



Preface. 



vii 



than always to give her authority in a foot-note, because 
to do so would give an air of pedantry to a very 
unpretending little book. But while the writer does 
not claim for her book any originality, she does claim 
for it strict veracity. These sketches of Missionary 
work are pictures from the life ; in no instance has the 
writer drawn on her imagination, or endeavoured to 
impose on the credulity of her readers. Truthfulness 
and simplicity characterize the whole. Should any 
who may peruse these pages be stirred up to take a 
deeper interest in Missions, and practically to manifest 
that interest in deeds, it will not have been written in 
vain. Of the many blemishes and imperfections of 
her work no one is more fully aware than the writer ; 
for these she craves the indulgence of the reader, and 
she ventures to send it forth, earnestly and humbly 
hoping that in regard to it the Master may condescend 
to say of her as of one of old, " She hath done what she 
could." 

M. E. J. 



LIST OF BOOKS MADE USE OF IN DRAWING 
UP THE FOLLOWING NARRATIVE. 

{Besides the Publications of the Church Missionary Society?) 

The Red River Settlement. Capt. Huyshe. 
The Great Lone Land. Capt. Butler. 

The North-West Passage by Land. Lord Milton and Dr. Cheadle. 

Professor Hind's Narrative of the Canadian Exploring Expedition of 
1857, and of the Assiniboine and Saskatchewan Exploring Expe- 
dition of '1858. 

The Government Blue Books for 1859 and i860. 

British North America. Religious Tract Society, 1872. 

Tot Years' Work amongst the Tsimsheean Indians. 

The writer also begs to acknowledge the courtesy of Miss Wilson in 
kindly providing her with some interesting information respecting the 
" Garden River Mission." 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

A GLANCE AT THE COUNTRY. 

PAGE 

British Possessions in North America, Extent. — Boundaries. — 
Climate. — Minerals, Animals. — Future of the Country. — Respon- 
sibility of Britain I 



CHAPTER II. 

THE RED RIVER. 

The Red River. — Early History of the Settlement. — First Mission- 
aries. — Progress. — Present Condition. — Indian Settlement. — 
Scanterbury. — Lansdowne. — Islington. — Portage La Prairie. — 
Westbourne 9 

CHAPTER III. 

EXTENSION OF THE MISSION WESTWARDS. 

Devon. — Fairford. — Nepowewin. — Ou'Appelle . . . .21 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE INDIAN TRIBES. 

Aboriginal Races of North America. — Names of Tribes who formerly 
occupied British Territory. — Religious Ideas. — Manners. — Cus- 
toms. — Cruelty. — Superstition. — Indian Women 28 



CHAPTER V. 



EXTENSION OF THE MISSION EASTWARDS. 

The Hudson's Bay Missions. — Moravians. — Moose Fort and its 
Out-stations. — York Fort. — Churchill. — Albany. — Fort Severn, 

Trout Lake. — Climate. — Travelling 38 

a 



X 



Contents. 



CHAPTER VI. 

PROCEEDING NORTHWARDS. 

PACE 

English River. — Mackenzie River. — Youcon River .... 46 

CHAPTER VII. 

MR. BOMPAS' JOURNEYS IN THE FAR NORTH. 

Appointment of Rev. W. C. Bompas to Mackenzie River. — His 
Journey North. — Great Bear Lake. — Indian Camps, Fort Rae, 
Fort Vermilion. — Return to Athabasca. — Youcon. — Peace River. 
— Gold Mines . . .66 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE ESQUIMAUX OF THE MACKENZIE. 

Mr. Bompas visits the Esquimaux. — Their appearance, dress, man- 
ners, boats, canoes, dwellings. — Hospitality. — Religious Ideas . 80 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE ESQUIMAUX OF THE MACKENZIE — {Continued). 

The Future of the Esquimaux. — Smoking. — Food. — Progress.— -Lan- 
guage. — The Country. — The Visit of Mr. Bompas. — His kind 
Reception. — Return to Peel's River Fort . . . .92 

CHAPTER X. 

RESULTS OF MISSIONARY TEACHING. 

Results of Missionary Teaching, as exhibited in the hearts and lives 

of the Converts. — Obstacles in the way of Missionary progress. 104 

CHAPTER XI. 

THE NORTH PACIFIC MISSION. 

British Columbia. — Its Early History. — Boundaries, Rivers, Re- 
sources. — The Metlakatlah Mission. — Its Origin . . .117 



Contents. 



xi 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE METLAKATLAH SETTLEMENT. 

PAGE 

Persecuted for the work's sake. — Christmas Sen-ices. — Fort Simp- 
son. — Small-pox. — Death of Converts 129 

CHAPTER XIII. 

PROGRESS AT METLAKATLAH. 

Bishop of Columbia baptizes Converts. — Consistent Conduct of 

the Baptized. — Operations are commenced at Xaas River . 140 

CHAPTER XIV. 

FURTHER PROGRESS. 

Improvements in the Village. — Testimony of a Roman Catholic 
gentleman. — Visit of the Dean of Victoria. — Native Christians 
preach the Gospel. — Mr. Duncan leaves for England. — He 
learns various trades. — His Return. — Erection of Workshops 



and Church. — Kincolith. — Missionary Preaching . . .148 
CHAPTER XV. 

THE GARDEN RIVER MISSION. 

Garden River Mission. — "Little Pine's" anxiety to see the Gospel 

preached to his Tribe, living under British rule . . .166 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Conclusion 191 

Appendix L — Present State of the Missions 199 

Appendix II.— Chronological Summary of the Missions . . 203 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGET 

Travelling in Rupert's Land . 3, 

Arrival of Mail— Rupert's Land . 7 

North American Plain Indians 28 

Female Cree Half-Breed ... * 30 

" Wigwam," Ojibbeway Half-breed 32 

Sick Indian and Medicine Man . -34 

" Susan," Swampy Half-breed 36 

Bishop Horden, of Moosonee -38 

Moose Church and Factory, James's Bay . . . . -39 

Coast Indians at Rupert's House 40 

Rupert's House in Winter 40 

Arrival of Rev. W. W. Kirkby at Churchill, July, 1873 {from a 

Photograph taken on the spot) 45 

Stanley Station, English River 46 

The Rev. W. W. Kirkby 50 

Rev. W. W. Kirkby in Travelling Dress . . . . .52 

Tukuth or Loucheux Chief 62 

Fort Simpson, Mackenzie River .67 

The Right Rev. W. C. Bompas, Bishop of Athabasca ... 76 

Esquimaux Man and Woman . 82 

Esquimaux Chief . . . 83 

Esquimaux hunting the Moose 95 

Going to Church in Rupert's Land 113 

Legaic threatening Mr. Duncan's Life 131 

The Christian Village of Metlakatlah 149 

Chief " Little Pine " 169- 



DAYSPRING IN THE FAR WEST. 



CHAPTER I. 



A GLANCE AT THE COUNTRY. 



British Possessions in North America, Extent. — Boundaries. — Climate, — 
Minerals, Animals. — Future of the Country. — Responsibility of Britain. 



a territory larger than the whole of Europe, over which the 
British Queen reigns supreme. On the north, east, and west, 
this great territory is bounded by the ocean, excepting, how- 
ever, the north-western corner, which formerly belonged to 
Russia, and now constitutes the province of Alaska, belonging 
to the United States. On the south it is separated from the 
American States by a line running along the 49th parallel of 
latitude as far as the Lake of the Woods, then along the south 
shore of Rainy Lake and River to Lake Superior, thence to 
Lake Huron, to the river and lake of St. Clair, through Lake 
Erie, across Lake Ontario, down the St. Lawrence, until near 




HE British possessions in North America comprist- 
an area of four millions of square miles. The 

I extreme length from the Atlantic to the Pacific is 
3000 miles, and from north to south 2000 miles ; 



B 



2 



Day spring in the Far West. 



Montreal, whence it runs along the 45th parallel of latitude as 
far as the 71st meridian of longitude ; then it bends north 
till it meets the St. John's River, and once more bending 
south, it terminates in the Bay of Fundy, separating the State 
of Maine from New Brunswick. On the east is the Island of 
Vancouver, with several smaller islands. 

What was formerly known as the Hudson's Bay Company's 
Territory is now included in the Dominion of Canada, com- 
prising the whole of Central British America to the Pacific 
and the River Youcon on the west, and the Polar Sea on the 
north. " It has been calculated that the whole territory 
belonging to Britain is capable of supporting forty millions of 
inhabitants, of which Central British America might of itself 
maintain nineteen millions. As this is more than ten times 
its present population, this country will for many years to come 
present a magnificent field for colonization, and for the 
employment of British capital, and for the exercise of that 
energy and enterprise for which the British race is renowned." 

Considering the vast extent of this region, a remarkable 
uniformity of climate prevails ; the western part is, however, 
warmer than the eastern, even at a higher degree of latitude. 
It is well adapted for English constitutions, and even for 
delicate persons the climate of the Peninsula of Western 
Canada is in many respects suitable. 

The climate of the southern districts is much superior to 
the northern, yet extreme cold often prevails throughout the 
whole of British North America, the ground being sometimes 
covered for three or four months with several feet of snow. 
Nevertheless, the absence of fogs, and the serenity of the 
atmosphere, render the cold less felt, while the snow keeps 



A Glance at the Count7y. 



5 
o 



the ground warm and enriches the soil, and when beaten 
down, timber and other things can be conveyed considerable 
distances on sleighs. The winter is longer than that of 
Europe, but it passes away quickly ; the heat in summer is 
great, and cereals and fruits ripen rapidly. Even the winter in 
these colonies has its peculiar pleasures. Sleigh driving, skating 
boats, sailing on the ice, afford out-door amusement, while 
the long winter evenings afford time for the reading and 
study of God's Word, as well as for the cultivation of the 
mind. u So serene is the atmosphere," writes one who resided 
in this country, " that when the thermometer is at the lowest, 
the lumberer will work with no other covering on his shoulders 
than his flannel vest. The heat in summer is for a short time 
excessive, but the air is pure and dry, hence it is not oppres- 
sive. Spring is the most unpleasant part of the year, when 
the snow begins to melt, and mud prevails, but the hot sun 
and wind soon dry up the mud ; the soil fertilized by the snow 
is soon arrayed in the tender hues of spring ; the grass springs 
up immediately, and flowers and fruits come quickly to 
perfection. 

"But if spring and summer were less pleasant than they 
are, ample amends would be made by the temperature which 
is enjoyed in autumn. This season, peculiar to North 
America, is called the Indian summer. Words cannot 
adequately describe the elasticity of the atmosphere, the 
exhilaration it produces ; it must be felt to be understood. 
The face of nature assumes a new aspect. The green which 
clothes the forests in summer is replaced by the most gorgeous 
tints ; the maple assumes the brightest red and yellow of 
many shades, the oak a bright copper, the beech a delicate 

B 2 



4 



Day spring in the Far West 



colouring of the purest gold and amber. While some trees 
assume various colours, the beech takes but one, the most 
beautiful imaginable ; the ground is covered with golden 
leaves, while overhead a canopy of the same flutters in the 
breeze, through which the sun's rays stream, shedding a 
joyous light through this most fairy-like of nature's halls. 
The first rude blast of winter strips every branch and spray, 
and as if by the rod of the magician the w T hole scene is 
changed. Winter, too, has its beauties, it is bright and full of 
interest as the joyous spring, the glowing summer, and the 
unspeakably delicious autumn." 

The natural resources of the country are great. The soil, 
throughout a large extent of country, is abundantly fertile, the 
extensive ramification of streams and lakes covering the face 
of the country afford water communication with the most 
remote districts, and when the land shall become more popu- 
lous, and smiling farmsteads shall dot the face of the country, 
the produce of the farm can thus be conveyed to market at a 
small expense. 

The mineral treasures are rich beyond computation. Coal 
formations are found from Mackenzie River to the point where 
Red Deer River joins the South Saskatchewan. The gold 
fields of British Columbia are now attracting a large popu- 
lation ; gold has also been found in the neighbourhood of the 
Peace River on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, and 
probably it exists in other portions of British territory. The 
northern shores of Lakes Huron and Superior abound in 
copper and iron. Large coal-fields exist in Nova Scotia on 
the east, and in Vancouver's Island on the west. In the 
centre cf the country salt-springs are found. 



A Glance at the Country. 



5 



Multitudes of wild animals are found in Central British 
America. Thousands of buffaloes are recklessly slaughtered 
for their tongues, and skins, or robes, as the fur traders call 
them, while the carcases are left lying on the ground for want of 
a market for their flesh. The fur trade is highly important, 
and has materially influenced the destinies of the country. 

The greater number of the fur-bearing quadrupeds live in 
the northern forests, as the racoon, ermine, badger, black 
bear, red fox, the lynx, the beaver, the musquash, or musk 
rat, and the moose deer, whose northern range terminates 
where the aspen and the willow cease to grow. The grizzly 
bear, the largest and most ferocious of its kind, is found in the 
Rocky Mountains. The prairie wolf, the grey fox, the 
Virginian hare, live in the prairies. The wapiti, a large stag, is 
found on both sides of the Rocky Mountains. The prong-back, 
an antelope, fleeter than the horse, roams over the western 
part of the continent, and migrates in winter to California and 
Mexico. There are thirteen species of the ruminating order 
in North America. There are five hundred species of birds, 
a great proportion of them being aquatic. In consequence of 
the vast expanse of water and marshy ground, innumerable 
water-fowl and waders are found in North America. 

The fisheries of North America are very valuable. Salmon 
is plentiful in the rivers. There are five species of perch ; 
pike and sturgeon also abound, and numberless other species 
of fish. 

There are three hundred and thirty-two genera of plants 
peculiar to North America. One hundred and sixty varieties 
of trees yield excellent timber. There are seven species of 
wild grapes, nuts, mulberries ; raspberries and strawberries 



6 



Day spring in the Far West. 



grow well. Melons and other fruits which will not ripen out 
of doors in England come to perfection without artificial 
forcing, while tobacco, hops, and flowers have been cultivated 
with success. 

The mineral wealth of this magnificent country, its water 
communication, its abundant fuel, its wood, stone, and clay for 
building, its rich pastures for cattle, and fertile lands for the 
growth of cereals, the game of its woods, and the fish of its 
rivers, its climate so conducive to health and cheerfulness, 
show it to be pre-eminently adapted to be the habitation of 
men; and doubtless the time is not far distant when those vast 
solitudes shall be peopled by our own countrymen, who, 
taking with them their labour and their skill, and what is still 
more important, the plodding industry which distinguishes 
the sons of Britain, shall find in the Far- West prosperous and 
happy homes — homes, we trust, in which the fear of God will 
rule paramount — homes where fathers and mothers will train 
up their children in the fear of the Lord — homes in which no 
greed of gain will tempt their occupants to deeds of injustice 
and cruelty to the Red man, who still roams over the prairies 
of the West. When the settler shall take possession of the 
fertile lands which stretch from the western shore of the 
beautiful Lake of the Woods to the foot of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, it is to be hoped that the Gospel will go with him, that 
the faithful minister of Christ will accompany the emigrant, 
and that those now desolate wilds shall reverberate with the 
sound of the church-going bell, that God's sacred day will be 
hallowed, and from many a now lonely spot shall ascend the 
sweet sounds of prayer and praise to Him who has clothed 
the earth with beauty, and caused it to bring forth fruit for the 



A Glance at the Country. 



7 



use of man, and oh ! wondrous love, has given His only beloved 
Son to die for us, that we, through Him, may inherit a home 
too glorious for the heart of man to conceive — a home pre- 
pared alike for the red man and the white man, but a home 
into which " shall in no wise enter anything that defileth, or 
worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." 

God has laid great responsibilities on Britain by giving this 
rich country into her hands. The pioneers of the Gospel have 
gone thither, and the success which has attended their efforts 
abundantly proves that these red men are capable of being 
civilized and evangelized. How incumbent is it upon us, then, 
to care for and instruct the immortal souls of the wild men who 
once called the land their own ! This hitherto little known 
country is about to become one of the great highways of 
commerce between England and Asia. The Canadian Pacific 
Railway, for the construction of which the British Parliament 
has guaranteed a loan, will attract towards those fertile regions 
a vast tide of emigration. Will Britain be faithful to her 
trust ? will she send the standard-bearers of the Cross with 
those who go forth from her shores to make fortunes in those 
fair lands ? will she, mindful that it is righteousness which 
exalteth a nation, provide for the religious instruction of her 
sons, who shall perhaps lay the foundation of a powerful 
nation in the rich prairies of the West ? It is said, that to 
the piety of the little band who colonized New England the 
United States owes even now all that is found there of true 
religion ; the spirit and the influence of those God-fearing 
men who, persecuted in their own land, sought a home across 
the waters of the Atlantic, where they might worship God 
according to their conscience, is to this day felt through the 



8 



Day spring in the Far West. 



length and breadth of that now powerful nation. In a far 
wider sense may such be the case with the colonists who shall 
in future leave our own country to people the wilds of 
America. May gratitude for the signal blessings which the 
Lord of heaven and earth has conferred on Britain, animate 
her to make efforts commensurate to the needs of the vast 
territory she owns ! May there be many whose hearts con- 
strained by the love of Christ shall willingly offer themselves 
to go into this portion of the Lord's vineyard ! Let us pray 
that " great may be the company of preachers " who shall 
dispense the Word of life both to red and white men in those 
far-off regions. Let us pray that there may be many who, 
hearing the Master's call, " Whom shall I send ? and who will 
go for us ? " will respond, " Here am I, send me." 

" How beauteous are the feet of those who bear 
Mercy to men, glad tidings to despair ! 
Far from the mountain's top, they lovelier seem 
Than moonlight dews, or morning's rosy beam." 

John the Baptist. (Prize Poem.) 



CHAPTER II. 




THE RED RIVER. 

The Red River. — Early History of the Settlement. — First Missionaries. — 
Progress. — Present Condition. — Indian Settlement. — Scanterbury. — 
Lansdowne. — Islington. — Portage La Prairie. — Westbourne. 

|LMOST at the central point of the North American 
continent, and not far south of the boundary-line 
between the United States and the British pos- 
sessions, two small lakes may be noticed on the 
map. In the one, Lake Ithasca, the mighty Mississippi 
takes its rise, and flows southwards for 3000 miles, until 
it falls into the Gulf of Mexico. From the other, Ottertail 
Lake, which is nine feet higher (1689 feet above the 
sea level), flows Red River in an exactly opposite direc- 
tion, crossing the boundary-line, and running northwards 
till it falls into Lake Winnipeg. It is 900 miles in length 
from its rise to its estuary. " Its name is said to have 
been derived from a bloody Indian battle which once took 
place on its banks, tinging the river with crimson dye. It 
certainly cannot be called red from the hue of its water, which 
is of a dirty white colour." 



IO 



Day spring in the Far West. 



"The plain through which the Red River flows is fertile 
beyond description. At a little distance it looks like one vast 
level prairie, through which the windings of the river are 
marked by a dark line of woods fringing the whole length of 
the stream ; each tributary has its line of forest, a line visible 
many miles away over the great sea of grass. The effect of 
sunset over these oceans of verdure is very beautiful ; a 
thousand hues spread themselves upon the grassy plain ; a 
thousand tints of gold are cast along the heavens, and the 
oceans of earth and sky intermingle in one blaze of glory at 
the very gates of the setting sun. Here at Red River we are 
only at the threshold of the sunset, its true home is yet many 
days' journey to the West, where the long shadows of the vast 
herds of bison travel slowly over the immense plains, huge and 
dark against the golden West, where the red man still sees in 
the glory of the setting sun the realization of his dream of 
heaven V 

Along the banks of this river, and stretching farther west 
still, through the basin of the Saskatchewan, to the foot of the 
Rocky Mountains, is a land abounding in mineral wealth, 
clothed with magnificent forests, where extend boundless 
prairies, affording rich pasturage for countless herds of buffalo, 
in many places gay with various species of wild flowers, through 
which roam tribes of Red Indians, who depend for subsistence 
on fishing and the chase — where darkness has for ages veiled 
the land, and gross darkness the people — where ignorance and 
superstition have long held their sway — where deeds of cruelty, 
treachery, and blood have long defiled the land. 

Upon this land of darkness and desolation the day has at 
1 The Great Lone Land. 



The Red River. 



length dawned. Already " the morning spread upon the 
mountains gives promise of a glorious day of light and glad- 
ness ; superstition, folding her sable wing, recedes before the 
advancing dawn ; and the bright beams of the Sun of Right- 
eousness gilding the mountain tops afford an earnest of their 
noonday splendour." 

Of the progress of the Gospel in this interesting country we 
purpose giving some account in the following pages. 

The Red River Settlement dates from the year 1811, when 
the Earl of Selkirk purchased from the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany and the Cree and Saulteaux Indians a large tract of land 
stretching along both banks of the Red River and the Assi- 
niboine. The country was at that time inhabited only by 
wandering tribes of Indians, and visited from time to time by 
the agents of the Hudson's Bay and North-West Fur Com- 
panies, who had trading-posts in the neighbourhood. Vast 
herds of buffalo, now driven to the west of Red River, then 
roamed over its prairies, and frequented the rich feeding grounds 
of Minnesota. The greater number of the settlers were Scotch- 
men and Protestants, yet there was no minister of the Gospel 
among them, no place of worship from north to south, from 
east to west of the wide-spreading territory. Is it therefore to 
be wondered at that God's laws were set at defiance, and deeds 
of violence committed which were a disgrace to civilized men ? 
In 1820, Mr. West, a clergyman selected by the Church 
Missionary Society, arrived in the settlement in the capacity 
of Chaplain to the Hudson's Bay Company. He was instructed 
to reside at Red River, and to endeavour to ameliorate the 
condition of the Indians. In 1822 the Church Missionary 
Society determined to commence a Mission at Red River, 



12 



Day spring in the Far West. 



and appointed the Rev. David Jones their first Missionary ; 
he arrived at the Settlement in October, 1823. In 1825 the 
Rev. W. Cockran was sent out by the Church Missionary 
Society to preach the Gospel to the Indian tribes. "To 
the untiring exertions of this pioneer of Missionary enterprise 
in the Far West is owing in a great measure, under the 
blessing of God, and the influence of the Holy Spirit resting 
on his labours, the improved condition of the Indians 
and half-breeds in the settlement." 2 " At that time Red 
River was an isolated settlement of civilized and half-civilized 
men in the midst of a vast region of barbarism. A very 
small portion of land had been brought into cultivation by 
the European settlers. The rest of the inhabitants, Canadians, 
half-breeds, and Indians, depended chiefly for subsistence on the 
chase and fishing. Their principal dependence was the buf- 
falo hunt, which took place twice a year, when 700 or 800 
hunters would set out in pursuit, accompanied by their wives, 
and children, and horses to bring home the spoil." If for any 
reason the hunt proved unsuccessful, both Indians and settlers 
would necessarily be reduced to great straits. It was there- 
fore necessary for the Missionaries to cultivate land and rear 
cattle in order to provide food for their families and schools, 
as well as to assist the number of destitute half-breeds and 
Indians, whose improvidence reduced them to the last ex- 
tremity of starvation. For everything they needed beyond 
the produce of their farms, for furniture, hardware, tools, 
books, clothing, and other things which contribute to daily 

2 British North America. Religious Tract Society, 1872. For full 
account of Mission-work at Red River, see u Rainbow in the North." 



The Red River. 



13 



comfort, Missionaries and colonists were dependent on 
England. 

Very different is the aspect which Red River now presents. 
Professor Hind thus describes his first impressions of the 
settlement in his narrative of the Red River Exploring Expe- 
dition of 1857 : — 

" Red River enters Lake Winnipeg by six different 
channels. Fourteen miles from the mouths of the river 
is the Indian village, founded by Archdeacon Cockran. 
A little below the village the country rises, the banks are 
about thirty feet high, the timber is imposing, and all the 
aspects of a level, fertile region invest the scene, but the same- 
ness in the general appearance of the banks becomes monoto- 
nous after the wild and varying beauties of the Winnipeg. The 
sight of clearings, however, with the neat white houses of the 
settlers at the Indian Missionary village speedily creates other 
impressions, aroused by such fair comparisons between the 
harmonizing influence of civilization, and the degraded brutal 
condition of a barbarous heathen race. These suggestive signs 
of improvement in moral and social position rapidly create a 
healthy tone of feeling in passing from the cascades and 
rapids of the Winnipeg, where half-clad savages fish and hunt 
for daily food, to the even flow of Red River, where Christian 
men and women, once heathen and wild, now live in hopeful 
security on its banks." 

" About four miles above the Indian Missionary village, a 
bend in the stream gives rise to a sharp projection of the 
level plateau, called Sugar Point, from the groves of maple 
which cover it. Near Sugar Point is a school in connexion 
with the Indian Mission below, situated north of the line which 



14 Day spring in the Far West. 



divides the parish of St. Peter from that of St. Andrew, and 
marking the northern limits of Red River Settlement. At 
the Grand Rapids, so called from the character of the river 
which flows through it, is grouped an assemblage of substan- 
tial stone buildings, which create a favourable impression of 
Red River resources and comfort, not unfrequently repeated 
in ascending the stream." 

" A farmer is attached to the Indian Settlement, which is 
cultivated with great care by the Indians ; it is intended to 
serve as a model for other Christian Indians, and also to 
provide them with seed and supplies in the event of their own 
stock failing — a contingency by no means improbable, since 
habits of forethought and economy are rarely acquired by 
these people until the second generation. Potatoes grow to a 
size unknown in England, many weighing as much as ten 
ounces each ; asparagus, cabbages, brocoli and shallots grow 
luxuriantly. In the farmyard may be seen ducks, fowls, 
turkeys, pigs, sheep, and excellent milking cows, while flower- 
ing shrubs and annuals adorn the garden which surrounds the 
Mission-house/' 

Between St. Peter's Church in the Indian settlement, and 
the point where the Red River is joined by its tributary, the 
Assiniboine, there are four Christian churches and congrega- 
tions which owe their existence to the labours of the Church 
Missionary Society. One of these, St. John's, formerly known 
as the Upper Church, at the junction of the two rivers, was 
made over to the Bishop of Rupert's Land, when that see 
was created in 1849, by the appointment of Bishop Anderson, 
who for sixteen years laboured with much zeal to promote the 
highest interests of the Indian. A second church, six miles 



The Red River. 



15 



lower down the stream, formerly called the Middle Church, 
now, St. Paul's, was also transferred when the work ceased to 
be missionary. Eight miles further down the stream, in the 
neighbourhood of the Grand Rapids, is St. Andrews, formerly 
known as the Lower Church, and nearly midway between it 
and the Indian Settlement Church, from which St, Andrew's 
is eleven miles distant, stands St. Clement's, Mapleton. The 
congregations in these two churches are chiefly either Euro- 
peans, or persons of mixed descent, with but a small sprink- 
ling of native Christians, and the duties are chiefly of a pastoral 
character. 

The Red River territory is now called the Province of 
Manitoba. Its capital is Winnipeg, a rapidly rising town near 
the junction of the Red River and the Assiniboine. Here is 
St. John's College, which includes a boarding-school for 
boys and girls, and is under the immediate supervision 
of Bishop Machray. A superior education is given, and 
some of the pupils have distinguished themselves at the 
English universities ; while others have been ordained to 
preach the Gospel in their native land. There are also 
parochial schools, and a model training institution ; no less 
then ten Church of England schools are supported by the 
Church Missionary Society. 

About twenty miles from the Indian Settlement is another 
Missionary station, known by the name of Scanterbury. It 
is situated on the Broken Head River, one of the small feeders 
of Lake Winnipeg. Here is a little community of native 
Christians, numbering forty-three individuals. Some sixty 
miles north-east of Scanterbury is Fort Alexander, on the 
Winnipeg, not far from which is the Mission Station of 



i6 



Day spring in the Far West. 



Lansdowne. About one hundred miles from Lansdowne 
is the Mission station of Islington, formerly known by 
the name of Chien-blanc. It stands on an oasis of two 
hundred and fifty acres, on the banks of the Winnipeg, 
not far from where it issues from the Lake of the 
Woods. 

The Roman Catholics were the first to establish a Mission 
at Islington, but having withdrawn from it, the Church 
Missionary Society occupied the Station, sending Mr. Philip 
Kennedy there as Catechist in 1850, In 185 1 the Rev. 
R. James was appointed to this Mission, and he it was who 
changed its name of Chien-blanc to Islington. An English 
lady afterwards gave ^1000 towards this Mission, to which she 
generously added £ 100 per annum for its maintenance. It 
occupies an important position between the province of Mani- 
toba and Canada Proper. A farm is attached to the Mission ; 
wheat, Indian corn, and potatoes grow well here. In North- 
West America it is necessary for each Mission Station to have 
its farm whenever the nature of the soil admits of its being 
cultivated ; and this not only for the supply of the wants of 
the Missionary and his family, but in order that he may be 
able to assist the Indians who flock around him in seasons of 
scarcity ; were he unable to supply their wants they must 
disperse in search of food, and thus the opportunity of retain- 
ing them for a time, and giving them religious instruction 
would be lost. The Indians at Islington belong to the 
Swampy Crees, and hunt on the Lower Winnipeg. The heathen 
Swampys acknowledge the existence of a supreme and good 
Being, but they address their invocations to the Evil Spirit. 
Many of the Saulteaux Indians are also found on the route 



The Red River. 



17 



between Canada Proper and Red River. "They are not 
likely to be brought under the power of the Gospel," wrote 
Archdeacon Cowley, towards the latter end of 1871, " without 
much patient labour and endurance on the part of the 
Missionary, and very considerable expense of money and 
prayer by the Church. But these are souls for whom Christ 
died, necessity is laid upon us, and woe unto us if we preach 
not the Gospel.''' 

The Rev. Baptist Spence, a native pastor, has the charge of 
this Mission. For many years he did good service as a cate- 
chist, and was ordained to the work of the ministry in 1869. The 
sale of intoxicating drink to the Indians has greatly hindered 
the work of this Mission ; that there is, however, reason to look 
hopefully to the future, the following extract from a letter 
written by Mr. Phair in 1871 will show. "The effect of the 
prohibition of the sale of ardent spirits may be better imagined 
than described ; suffice it to state, that where hitherto poverty 
and vice predominated, there is now not only a desire to come 
to church, attend the meetings for prayer, and an attempt, 
outwardly at least, to walk consistently with their profession j. 
but there is the means, the food to enable them to remain 
within reach of Christian instruction. During the past year 
I perceive that a spirit of prayer is manifesting itself here 
and there among the people, and this in connexion with the 
additions from time to time from among the heathen, give us 
reason to believe that our labour is not in vain in the Lord. 
On my arrival here some seven years ago, there were not ten 
houses in connexion with the Mission ; now there are more 
than forty, and the past year has witnessed the erection of 
more than one fourth of that number. The fur hunt has been 

c 



i8 



Day spring in the Far West. 



almost a total failure lately, and the consequence is that the 
Indians have turned their attention to settling, farming, and 
other pursuits more favourable to our work among them. On 
Sundays the church is well filled, and on other days the 
meetings more regularly attended. No Indian appears to 
loiter about idle, as has been the case heretofore ; all are 
busy, some clearing land, others cutting logs preparatory to 
building their houses ; and a spirit of new life appears to 
have entered my people." 

Prairie Portage, on the Assiniboine, which owes its existence 
to the zeal and energy of Archdeacon Cockran, " is," wrote 
Professor Hind in 1857, " next to the Indian Settlement, the 
most interesting illustration of an Indian Christian Settlement 
in a wilderness still inhabited by roving bands of Indians, 
who as of old occupy themselves in barbarous warfare, hunt 
for daily food, and submit with abject humility to the con- 
juror's malignant influence. The church is constructed of 
wood, and contains about thirty substantial family seats, but 
is capable of holding three times that number ; each seat 
is manufactured by the owner according to a pattern supplied 
by the archdeacon. The congregation on Sunday was com- 
posed of Plain and Swampy Cree Indians and half-breeds : 
near the door of the church, inside the building, a number 
of heathen Indians stationed themselves to indulge their 
curiosity ; they remained quiet and grave, and conducted 
themselves with the utmost propriety during the service." 
Prairie Portage is now chiefly peopled by settlers from 
Red River, and the work is rather pastoral than missionary ; 
hence it is about to be transferred to the Church organization 
of the colony, and the Missionary must advance further into 



The Red River. 



19 



the west, in order to preach the Gospel to the Indian tribes, 
who retreat into the wilderness before the advancing tide of 
emigration. At present this station is under the pastoral 
care of the Rev. Henry George, son-in-law of Archdeacon 
Cockran. 

Sixteen miles west of Portage La Prairie is Westbourne, 
occupied by the Church Missionary Society in 1859. West- 
bourne is on the White Mud River, and is so named after the 
Rev. John West, the pioneer of Missionary enterprise in North- 
West America. The population of this place now also con- 
sists chiefly of Europeans, and the Indians are about to leave 
the station for a reserve set apart for them by the Government. 
No longer a Missionary station, it has become an important 
colonial church, where the settlers find the means of grace 
already provided for them. 

In addition to these churches in the neighbourhood of Red 
River, there are various Missions scattered over this immense 
territory. In every direction along the banks of distant rivers, 
which fall either into the Polar Sea on the north, the Pacific on 
the west, Hudson's Bay on the east, and Lake Winnipeg in the 
interior, the ministers of Christ have gone forth to spread the 
glad tidings of salvation. Of the progress of the work of 
evangelizing the heathen in these remote regions, the following 
pages contain a brief account. 

The solitary life, the privations, the many trials endured by 
Missionaries in these far-off lands are such as could only have 
been borne by men in whose hearts glowed the love of Christ. 
That their labour has not been in vain, the facts about to be 
related abundantly prove. May some who read be stirred up 
to gird themselves for the battle, and armed in Divine panoply 

C 2 



20 



Day spring in the Far West. 



• - go forth to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord 
against the mighty"! 

" With hope's green branch the welcome Dove returns, 
Hails the bright star that tells the Dayspring near." 

John the Baptist. (Prize Poem.) 



CHAPTER III. 




EXTENSION OF THE MISSION WESTWARDS, 

Devon. — Fairford. — Nepowewin. — Ou'Appelle. 

ROM the western shore of the Lake of the Woods 
to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, a distance of 
800 miles, stretches a belt of remarkably rich soil, 
usually called the Fertile Belt. It is partly fine 
open prairie, partly covered with groves of aspen and other 
trees ; it is from 80 to 100 miles in width, and comprises 
some forty millions of acres of rich arable and pasture land. 
Through this rich territory flow the North and South 
Saskatchewan, with their many tributaries, of which the 
Qu'Appelle is one of the principal. This fine country will 
probably soon be peopled by European settlers, who are 
already flocking towards the west in great numbers. 

In order to provide for them the means of grace, and 
religious instruction for their children, it has been formed into 
a diocese, named the diocese of Saskatchewan. Among the 
Indians who for ages here found their hunting-grounds, the 
Church Missionary Society has laboured for more than thirty 
years. 

So early as 1840, the Rev. Henry Budd, one of the first 



22 



Day spring in the Far West. 



Christian converts in Rupert's Land, who had been trained 
for the ministry at Red River, set out from the settlement to 
make preparations for erecting a church and establishing a 
Mission at Cumberland, or Pas, now called Devon, situated at 
the confluence of the Saskatchewan and Basquia Rivers, 
distant about five hundred miles from Red River. At that 
time Mr. Budd was a catechist only. He was ordained by 
Bishop Anderson on the 22nd of December, 1850, being the 
first of his countrymen admitted to the sacred office. This 
mission was matured under the fostering care of Archdeacon 
Hunter. On his return to England in 1854 it was transferred 
again to Mr. Budd, and here he now fulfils, not only the duties 
of a native pastor, but also of an evangelist for its out- 
stations, the principal of which are Moose Lake, Cumberland 
House, and Nepowewin, all in the basin of the Saskatchewan 
River. Professor Hind, who visited Cumberland in 1857, 
thus describes its appearance : — -" It seemed like getting back 
to civilization again, when on rounding one of the majestic 
sweeps of the river, the pretty white church, surrounded by 
farmhouses and fields of moving grain burst unexpectedly 
upon our view. It was a calm summer's evening, and the 
spire was mirrored in the gliding river, and gilt by the last 
rays of the setting sun. The church is on the south bank of 
the river ; near it is the parsonage, a commodious building. 
Adjoining the church is a neat schoolhouse, with several 
dwelling-houses. So greatly has God blessed the preaching 
of the Gospel at Devon that no heathen are now found there. 
All are nominally Christians, and the consistent lives of a large 
proportion attest that they have not received the grace of 
God in vain. The soil is less fertile than that of the Indian 



Extension of the Mission Westwards. 23 



Settlement at Red River, and being more exposed to the east 
winds which sweep over Hudson's Bay, the cold is more 
severe. Nevertheless, the Mission farm is cultivated with 
success. Wheat does not grow well there, but barley and 
potatoes are cultivated. By degrees the Indians are becoming 
civilized, and though in a measure dependent on fishing and 
the chase, they are more disposed than formerly to establish 
themselves in permanent homes." 

In a letter dated August 19, 187 1, Mr. Budd writes 
thus : — 

" The growing population of Devon, and the endeavours of 
the people towards improvement in temporal as well as spiritual 
matters, give me full employment on the spot, and leave little 
room for visiting and seeing the Indians at other places. We 
see here new houses putting up every year, the soil ploughed 
up, the seed put in, parks and fences rising up here and there, 
until very little land is left for the cattle to graze upon. All 
this spring I was delighted to see them, each one trying to 
break up his own piece of land, and planting his potatoes 
in it, and now they have potatoes growing up nicely, and there 
is promise of a good harvest. The people have effectually 
put down the sale of any spirituous liquors among themselves, 
and now that the law has passed forbidding it, we trust we 
shall never see any more of that soul-destroying article of trade 
among our people. The Sunday services have been regularly 
attended by all the people when they are at home. Most of 
the strong and able go about hunting during the winter, leaving 
their families sometimes, and at other times taking them 
with them. During the summer months the strong men are 
away tripping in the boats ; but as the population is yearly 



24 



Day spring in the Far West. 



increasing, we still have plenty at home who fill the church 
Sabbath by Sabbath. I am always particularly encouraged at 
the Sunday duties ; for I feel that I am preaching to a 
people that understand me. The Sunday school is not less 
encouraging. Here we have children and young people 
attending, many of them reading with fluency the Word of 
God in their own language. They manage to read it in their 
own tongue so much quicker than in English, and of course 
at once understand what they are reading about. This and 
the day school I have to conduct myself, with the help of a 
young man whom I am training for a teacher." In Devon 
and its out-stations there are 650 native Christians, of whom 
170 are communicants. 

The Fairford Mission was commenced by Archdeacon 
Cowley in 1842. It is prettily situated on the banks of 
Partridge Crop River (which is a continuation of the Little 
Saskatchewan), about two miles from Lake Manitoba. Beds 
of rushes covering many square miles constitute the Crop, 
so called by the Indians on account of the resemblamce which 
the outline of this reedy expanse bears to the crop of a 
partridge. It is distant from Red River about 200 miles. 
Here the Indians are Saulteaux. For many years Archdeacon 
Cowley appeared to labour among them in vain. The seed 
sown brought forth no fruit, and so hopeless did this Mission 
seem to be that thoughts were entertained of abandoning it. 
But the Archdeacon resolved to persevere, and after much 
patient labour he found the promise verified, " In due season 
ye shall reap if ye faint not." The first-fruits of his labours 
was Luke Caldwell, who was baptized by Bishop Anderson 
in 185 1. When the Bishop again visited Fairford in 1858 a 



Extension of the Mission Westwards. 25 



little band of Christians had been gathered in, of whom he 
baptized thirty-nine. Yet once again the faith of the Mis- 
sionary was put to the test ; the fire-water introduced by the 
white man proved too strong a temptation for the infant 
Church, and many, alas ! fell away. 

Happily the sale of intoxicating drinks to the Indians is 
now forbidden, and to this Mission, as to others, the prohibi- 
tion has proved beneficial. The latest accounts from the 
Mission state that the Indians flock to the house of God, and 
are diligent in their attendance at the school, 

The Rev. George Bruce, ordained in 1868, is the native 
pastor now in charge of Fairford and its out-stations, Mani- 
toba, Oak Point, Touchwood Hills, and Fort Pelly. Mani- 
toba, on the shores of the lake from which it takes its name, 
is sixty miles south of Fairford. Oak Point is forty miles 
further on, while Fort Pelly, near the source of the Assini- 
boine, is 300 miles distant, and the Touchwood Hills are 100 
miles further west Here the population is composed chiefly 
of Crees, and a pretty little Christian village adorns the spot 
once desecrated by the orgies of the medicine man. 

The Xepowewin Mission, situated on the north bank of the 
Saskatchewan, opposite to Fort a la Corne, was commenced 
in September, 1852, by the Rev. H. Budd. The name Xepo- 
wewin is derived from an Indian expression signifying " The 
Standing Place," where the natives are accustomed to await 
the arrival of the Hudson's Bay Company's boats as they 
track up the north side of the river. The Mission-house, 
garden, and little farm are a pattern of neatness and order. 
"The valley of Long Creek, Ave miles south of the Nepowe- 
win," says Professor Hind, " appears to furnish a very large 



26 



Day spring in the Far West. 



area of land of the best quality, and will probably become the 
seat of a thriving community. But when these events take 
place the wild Indians will have passed away, and the white 
race will occupy the soil ; yet it is to be hoped that the 
descendants of some of these heathen w r anderers who have 
here the opportunity of hearing of Christ and His Kingdom, 
may find a permanent home near the Nepowewin, so long 
distinguished for the medicine feasts which are celebrated in 
the pine woods crowning the banks of the Saskatchewan, 
whose remains I saw almost within sight of the Mission sta- 
tion, on the opposite side of the swift-flowing river." Luke 
Caldwell, now a native pastor, has charge of the Nepowewin 
Mission, under the superintendence of Mr. Budd, of Devon. 

The Qu'Appelle Mission was established in 1857. It is 
beautifully situated on the Qu'Appelle, or "Who-Calls River/' 
between the second and third fishing lakes. "These lakes are 
four in number, and derive their name from the rich store of fish 
they contain. They are narrow bodies of water, which entirely 
occupy an excavated valley about a mile in width. The 
scenery around them is most lovely and attractive. A belt of 
timber fringes their sides at the foot of the steep hills they 
wash. Ancient elm-trees, with long drooping branches, bend 
over their waters ; the ash-leaved maple grows here, as at Red 
River, to a large size, and the me-sas-ka-mi-na (la poire) 
grows to the height of eighteen or twenty feet, and is loaded 
with most luscious fruit." 

The river Qu'Appelle derives its name from an Indian 
legend. A chief, it is said, was one day paddling his canoe 
down the river, when he heard a voice softly calling him by 
name ; he stopped, looked around, but saw no one. Re- 



Extension of the Mission Westwards. 



27 



suminghis course, he again heard his name distinctly uttered; 
again he stopped, and responded to the call, but nothing was 
visible, and in vain he waited to hear the voice once more ; 
silence reigned around, and concluding that it was the voice of 
the Manitou which he had heard, he named the river " Who 
Calls." 

When the Rev. James Settee, a native of Swampy Cree 
origin, first entered upon this Mission, the Crees of the Sandy 
Hills, having received intelligence that the Bishop had sent a 
praying man to teach them the truths of Christianity, directed 
messengers to inquire whether " the great praying father had 
sent plenty of rum ; if so, they would soon become followers 
of the white man's Manitou." The messengers returned with 
the intelligence that the great praying father had not only 
omitted to send rum, but he hoped the Plain Crees would soon 
abandon the practice of demanding rum in exchange for their 
pemmican and robes. The messengers were directed to 
return to the Missionary with the announcement that "if the 
great praying father did not intend to send rum, the sooner he 
took his praying man away the better for him." 

" Here, as elsewhere," says Professor Hind, a the school is the 
main hope of the Mission." " Teach my children for two or 
three years, but let me follow the ways of my fathers," said the 
son of a chief of the Sandy Hills. " They wish their children to 
know the white man's cunning, and to learn to cultivate the 
soil, but they themselves would prefer to remain still the wild 
prairie Indians, hunting the buffalo, and occasionally tasting 
the savage excitement of war." 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE INDIAN TRIBES. 

Aboriginal Races of North America. — Names of Tribes who formerly 
occupied British Territory. — Religious Ideas. — Manners. — Customs. 
— Cruelty. — Superstition. — Indian Women. 

HE origin of the Aborigines on the continent of 
America is enveloped in darkness. Many of their 
customs and superstitions resemble those of Orien- 
tals. The aboriginal inhabitants of North America 
were divided into families, distinguished from each other in 
appearance, dialect, habits, and religious notions. These 
families were subdivided into tribes ; between some of these 
tribes the most bitter hatred existed, and they carried on per- 
petual warfare with each other. 

The following are the principal native races by which 
British North America was peopled : — 

I. The Esquimaux, whose personal appearance indicates 
Mongol extraction. They are found on the northern shores 
of Hudson's Bay and the Arctic Ocean. 

II. The Tinne or Chipewyan Indians, whose various 
tribes extend from the English River to the mouth of the 
Mackenzie. The Chipewyans are a harmless, inoffensive race, 




NORTH AMERICAN PLAIN INDIANS. 



The Indian Tribes. 



29 



well disposed towards the reception of Christianity; and it is a 
remarkable fact that they have always refused to trade for 
ardent spirits ; hence drunkenness, the great bane of the Indian 
race, is unknown amongst them. The Hare Indians, Dog- 
ribs, Beaver Indians, and others, belong to this family. 

III. The Kutchin, or Loucheux Indians, more correctly 
termed Tukuth, who dwell on the banks of the great river 
Youcon and its tributaries, and on the shores of Behring's 
Straits. They are probably a branch of the great Tinne 
family ; their appearance and peculiar customs, such as infan- 
ticide and burning of the dead, seem to point to Tartar origin. 

" Both the Tinne race and the Tukuth," says Mr. Kirkby, 
(whose residence amongst both people afforded him ample 
opportunity for forming a correct judgment) " undoubtedly 
proceed from the inhabitants of North-East Siberia ; if so, the 
Tinne family holds a very important position among the 
aborigines of the continent, extending, as it does, in an 
uninterrupted line from Hudson's Bay tc the Pacific Ocean ; 
and stretching in a more broken, though perfectly visible 
chain from the Arctic Coast to the Gulf of Mexico." 

" The Tinne family," says the same authority, " consists of 
forty-one tribes." The term Kutchin signifies the people, or 
the nation, while Loucheux, signifying " the squinters," is the 
name given to this people by the white man. Tukuth is the 
name by which they designate themselves. 

IV. The Algonquins, occupying the territory between the 
estuary of the St. Lawrence and Hudson's Bay, and extending 
west as far as the Rocky Mountains. The Ojibeways, Crees, 
Delawares, and others belong to this family. 

V. The Ircquois inhabited the country south of the 



\ 



30 Day spring in the Far West. 

St. Lawrence, and about the great lakes. They were 
divided into five great nations, the Mohawks, Oneidas, 
Onondagoes, Cayugas, and Senecas. Only a few scattered 
remnants of the Iroquois now exist. One of these has found 
a home on the Grand River in Upper Canada, while a few 
others have had lands reserved for them in the United 
States. The Hurons were a numerous people dwelling 
on the shores of Lake Huron. In the border warfare 
with the United States, they, in common with many 
others, were dispossessed of their lands, and the few that 
now remain are settled in the village of La Jeune Lorette, 
near Quebec. 

VI. The Dakotahs are still found in the great prairie south 
of the Saskatchewan, and in the desert beyond the boundary 
line. The Blackfeet, Assiniboines, and Sioux belong to the 
Dakotahs. The Sioux are the hereditary enemies of the 
Ojibeways and Crees. 

The still savage Indians on British territory are chiefly 
those found in the plains of the Saskatchewan, for whose 
evangelization earnest efforts are about to be made by the 
Church Missionary Society. 

There are, it is said, " probably not one tenth of the number 
of Indians who peopled the country when it was first settled 
by Europeans. In British territory there are not more than 
148,000 Red Indians, of whom 55,000 are found in the Hudson's 
Bay Company's territories," now included in the dominion of 
Canada. This diminution of numbers is owing to various 
causes. In addition to the wars carried on between tribe and 
tribe, the introduction of fire-arms by the white man, thus 
rendering their warfare more deadly, small pox and other 




FEMALE CREE HALF-BREED. 



The Indian Tribes. 



3i 



diseases introduced by the settlers, brandy and rum, the " fire 
water," which has for the Red man such a terrible fascination, 
the scarcity of food consequent on the general neglect of 
agriculture ; — all these causes combined have destroyed vast 
numbers of the native race. Hence the importance attached 
by the Missionary to the instruction of the Indians in the art 
of agriculture. Hence also the necessity for the law whereby 
the sale or barter of intoxicating drinks is now strictly pro- 
hibited and enforced in British territory. One who resided 
for some years in the country observes : " When hunting, the 
Indian is removed from Missionary influences, and when visiting 
the trading-posts intoxication indisposes him to listen to the 
truths of the Gospel." If the Indian can be induced to settle 
in villages in the vicinity of the Mission station, if he can be 
taught to cultivate his garden and little farm, thereby provid- 
ing a supply of food for himself and his family, a great point 
has been gained ; the head of the family, when absent on his 
hunting expeditions, leaves his household in charge, as it were, 
of the Missionary, his children regularly attend the school, 
and he himself, returning to his peaceful and orderly home, 
and appreciating its comfort, is more willing to frequent the 
House of God ; and to accept the instruction of Christian 
teachers. 

The Indian is extremely superstitious. He believes in the 
existence of a great spirit, called Manitou, whom he supposes 
to be the maker and preserver of all things ; he believes also 
in good and evil spirits, in the power of sorcerers and charms, 
and he looks forward to a future place of abode, where the 
brave will find their reward in happy hunting-grounds. 

In the valley of the Ou'Appelle River, Professor Hind 



32 



Day spring in the Far West, 



frequently found offerings to Manitou suspended on branches 
of trees ; they consisted of fragments of cloth, strings of beads, 
shreds of buffalo hide, bears' teeth, and other trifles. " This 
custom," says he, " prevails everywhere in the valley of Lake 
Winnipeg, and on the banks of Red River, where the rattle of 
the conjuror, and the medicine drum may be frequently heard. 
A conjuror or medicine man, celebrated for the potency of 
his charms, will often exercise a very injurious influence over 
an entire band, consisting of ten or twelve families, in deterring 
them from frequenting particular hunting or fishing grounds 
if they happen to offend him." 

The caverns formed by fissures in the limestone on the 
shores of Lakes Winnipeg and Manitobah, are believed by the 
Indians to be inhabited by bad spirits, and numerous are the 
legends respecting them. There are many spots which the 
Indians do not even dare to visit. If necessity compels them 
to approach any of these abodes of the spirits, they either lay 
an offering on the beach, in order to appease the imaginary 
god, or they keep at the greatest possible distance as they pass 
by. Some of the legends associated with these caves are truly 
absurd. 

The custom of offering sacrifices prevails among the Indians 
of the Saskatchewan valley. The usual offering consists of 
two or three dogs. " At the mouth of the Qu'Appelle river, 
an Indian in June 1858 set his net, and caught a large fish of 
a kind different from any with which he w 7 as familiar ; he at 
once pronounced it to be a Manitou, and restoring it to the 
water again, he sacrificed five valuable dogs to appease the 
fury of the supposed fairy." When approaching Long Lake, 
an arm of the Qu'Appelle, Professor Hind was warned by the 



"wigwam/' ojibbeway half-breed. 



The Indian Tribes. 



33 



Crees not to visit the Lake by night, as it was full of devils. 
" They appeared," he says, " to live in awe and terror cf 
them." 

In the spring and fall of the year the Indians assemble to 
celebrate their medicine feasts and other idolatrous ceremo- 
nies. Carved and painted posts are to be seen in the woods 
of the Saskatchewan w T hich are used on these occasions. "A 
large medicine tent is erected ; four painted posts represent the 
Manitou, whom they invoke during the celebration of the cere- 
monies. The features of a man are roughly carved on each 
post, and smeared with patches of vermilion and green paint 
over the cheeks, nose, and eyebrows. When decorated with 
fresh paint, feathers, strips of leather, and a painted robe of 
elk, moose, or buffalo skin, these idols inspire the most super- 
stitious awe among the untutored savages. The awe of many 
becomes terror, when illumined by fires at night, and invoked 
as the representatives of the all-powerful Manitou ; the whole 
assembly, jumping in time to the wild song and monotonous 
drum of the conjurors, circle round these idols, and join in 
chants to the praises of the spirits they represent." These 
ceremonies are kept up for several days together, and the 
feasting and dancing are continued during the night. These 
dances are held in honour of the gods who are supposed to 
have preserved the Indians and given them food. The cere- 
monies ended, the poles are stripped of their fantastic decora- 
tions, and the Indians are supposed to be in a fit state for 
enjoying their summer, or for setting out on their hunting 
expeditions. 

The Wood and Prairie Indians are in the habit of painting 
their skin with different colours. Warriors on the " war path " 

D 



34 



Dayspring in the Far West, 



often paint the figure of a hand over the mouth as is done in 
sounding the war whoop, this indicates that the individual is 
in pursuit of his enemies. The Ojibbeways are partial to ver- 
milion, while the Plain Crees prefer white, green, and blue. 
It is also customary to cut and gash their flesh in token of 
grief for a deceased friend or relative. The Plain Crees, more- 
over, adorn their bodies with figures of birds, quadrupeds, and 
various symbols. An incision is made in the skin by means 
of a knife point, or the edge of a flint, and the colour is rubbed 
in, very much in the same manner as English sailors often 
tattoo themselves, but the process is wholly different from 
that performed by the New Zealanders. 1 

In sickness Indians are much depressed, and then they have 
recourse to the medicine man, whose incantations are supposed 
to have a beneficial effect. During the violence of a thunder- 
storm, the aid of the medicine man is sought by the timid ; he 
is then supposed to invoke the Great Bird, by the flapping of 
whose wings they imagine the thunder is produced, while the 
lightning's flash seems to their affrighted imagination to be 
the " blink of his all-penetrating eye. ,, 

The Indians are extremely vindictive ; and the cruelties in- 
flicted on their prisoners taken in war almost exceed the 
power of description. Professor Hind thus describes a terrible 
mode of death sometimes inflicted by the Sioux on a prisoner 
taken during the summer season : — " Their victim is stripped, 
tied to a stake on the borders of a marsh in the prairie, and he 
is left exposed to the attacks of millions of musquitoes, with- 

1 Compare this with Levit. xix. 28 and Levit. xxi. 5, also Deut. xiv. 1. 
Query — Do these customs point to Eastern origin ? It would almost 
seem so. 




SICK INDIAN AND MEDICINE MAN. 



The Indian Tribes. 



35 



out being able to move any part of his body. When the 
agony of fever and the torment of thirst come upon him, he 
is left to die a dreadfully lingering death, with water at his 
feet, and buzzards hovering and circling above him in greedy 
expectation." In common with all savage people, the Indians 
regard their women as slaves, they compel them to do the 
hardest work, while they look lazily on, enjoying the luxury of 
a pipe, and often requite their services with harsh words and 
cruel blows. Speaking of the Youcon Indians, Mr. Kirkby 
says, " The Kutchin women are inferior in looks and fewer in 
number than the men. The former probably arises from 
the harsh treatment they receive, and the heavy work they 
have to perform ; while the latter is caused in a great measure 
by the too prevalent custom of female infanticide. Many a 
poor mother assured me she had killed her child to save it 
from suffering the misery she had herself endured." 

Polygamy prevails to a considerable extent amongst the 
Indian tribes of North America. This is more especially the 
case with the Tukuth. " The Tukuth," says Mr. Kirkby, 
" multiplies his wives just as a farmer increases his beasts of 
burden. The more wives he has, the more meat he can have 
hauled, the more wood cut, the more chattels carried. Hence 
an Indian frequently has four or five wives at one time. The 
effect of this may readily be conceived ; dissatisfaction, 
jealousies, quarrels, and murders are the natural results. No 
marriage ceremony of any kind or previous courtship appears 
to be required, but the consent of the bride's mother is essential 
in all cases. Neither father nor brothers have a voice in the 
matter, and would sit quietly by, and see their daughter or 
sister pulled to pieces by contending rivals, rather than inter- 

D 2 



36 



Day spring in the Far West. 



fere in the matter. Indeed, it would be considered weak and 
unmanly to do so." 

Such is the picture, unhappily too true a one (as those who 
have resided amongst them can testify), of the Indian tribes of 
British North America. Truly " the dark places of the earth 
are full of the habitations of cruelty." 

Shall Christian England leave these poor savages to perish 
in their misery and degradation ? Surely not An able 
writer, himself a resident in the country for some years, has 
well pointed out the duty which we owe to these people. 
" Let us," he says, " instruct and interest them, and give 
them incentives to industry and exertion ; let them be induced 
to settle and cultivate the ground, and let artisans be employed 
to teach them the arts of civilized life." Encouragement to 
make such efforts are not wanting; the Indian Missionary 
village founded by Archdeacon Cockran in 1833, at Red 
River, and the Missionary village of Metlakatlah, on the 
Pacific coast, founded and presided over by Mr. Duncan, 
abundantly prove what may be done for the Indian. " Let men 
be found fitted for the work like them, let their numbers be 
increased, and a blessing prayerfully sought on their labours, 
and communities of Christian Indians will be found stretching 
from Lake Superior to the Pacific, thriving and happy, and 
increasing in number. Let us pray for this, and, while we pray, 
let us work ; it is work which we owe to those Indian tribes, too 
long neglected by us, and it is work which must be done 
now." 2 

" The only savage Indians now found on British territory 
are those known as Prairie and Wood Indians. They hunt the 
2 " British North America." 



SUSAN, SWAMPY HALF-BREED. 



The Indian Tribes. 



37 



buffalo and other large game, and their tents and clothing 
are made of the skins of these animals. The Wood Indians 
live on fish, and hunt small game, they also cultivate Indian 
corn. Their tents are called wigwams, and are covered with 
the bark of the birch-tree. The Prairie Indians are good 
horsemen, and keep large herds of these animals." 3 



3 "British North America." 



CHAPTER V. 



EXTENSION OF THE MISSION EASTWARDS. 

The Hudson's Bay Missions. — Moravians. — Moose Fort and its out- 
stations. — York Fort. — Churchill. — Albany.— Fort Severn, Trout 
Lake. — Climate. — Travelling. 

UDSON'S BAY, which takes its name from 
Captain Hudson, who discovered it in 1610, is 
900 miles long, and 600 broad in its widest part ; 
its coast-line measures a distance of about 3000 
miles. It is only open to ships for a few months in the year, 
and the numerous shoals, rocks, and drifting icebergs render 
its navigation at all times dangerous. Of its many inlets, 
James's Bay on the south-east, and Port Nelson on the west, 
are the most important. Two rivers, the Nelson and the 
Hayes, discharge their waters into the latter. A belt of 
willows and swamps lie between the two rivers, to which is 
given the name of the Point of the Marsh. To the south- 
west of James's Bay is Moose Fort, which is distant from Red 
River about 1200 miles. 

To the Moravians is due the honour of having been the 
first to plant the standard of the Gospel on the inclement 
shores of Hudson's Bay. So early as the year 1750, a pious 
sailor named Ehrhard urged upon the Brethren the impor- 




BISHOP HORDEX, OF MQ050XEE. 



Extension of the Mission Eastwards. 39 



tance of establishing a Mission to the Esquimaux on the 
shores of Labrador. After no less than four exploratory 
voyages to the coast, the first Mission was commenced at 
Nain in 1770. Another Missionary Settlement was estab- 
lished at Okak, to the north of Nain, in 1776, and another at 
Hopedale, some distance south of Nain, in 1782. The early 
Moravian Missionaries encountered great hardships, and many 
were the trials of their faith and patience, ere it was given 
them to see the fruit of their toil. Thirty-four years had 
passed away before the Esquimaux in any great numbers 
received the message of the Gospel into their hearts. A ship 
fitted out by the London Society for the Furtherance of the 
Gospel annually visits this Mission, and " of all the missions 
to the heathen which are the glory of Christendom, none 
perhaps are conducted in a more devoted and Christ-like 
spirit than that of the Moravians on the shores of Labrador." 

At a later period the Wesleyans established a Mission at 
Moose Fort, on the southern coast of the Bay. From this 
Mission they ultimately withdrew, and in 185 1 the Church 
Missionary Society sent Mr. John Horden, now Bishop 
Horden, to occupy the post vacated by the Wesleyans. From 
Moose Fort, the Mission has branched out in all directions, 
so that it now forms the centre of a cluster of Mission stations ; 
on the eastern side of James's Bay are Rupert's House, East 
Main, Fort George, Great and Little Whale Rivers : at this 
point the Esquimaux are found. The Indians around Moose 
Fort are Swampy Crees. On the west and south of the Fort 
are Flying Post, Kenoogoomissee, Matawakumme, and 
Matachewan. Each of these is at a considerable distance one 
from the other ; to reach the farthest of them involves a 



40 



Day spring in the Far West. 



journey of 500 or 600 miles from Moose Fort. One 
hundred and twenty miles north of the Fort is Albany, now 
under the charge of a native pastor, the Rev. T. Vincent, of 
whose devotion to his work the Bishop of Rupert's Land speaks 
in terms of high praise. South-east of Albany are the out- 
stations of Martin's Falls and Osnaburgh ; the latter is not far 
from Lac Seul, the waters of which empty themselves into the 
River Winnipeg at Islington. Here the Indians are Sotos. 
Still farther to the east of the Bay are Mistasinee, Nitchekwan, 
and Tamiskama. The Indians who congregate at these places 
are visited from time to time by the Missionaries located at 
the principal stations, and numbers of them listen with marked 
attention to the preaching of the Gospel, attending the 
frequent services held daily by the Missionary during his 
stay. There are more than 1600 Christians in James's Bay 
districts ; of these 224 are communicants. The sterility of the 
soil, added to the inclemency of the climate in this portion of 
the American continent, renders it impossible to form agri- 
cultural settlements as at Red River ; hence the Christian 
Indians are dependent for subsistence on the chase, and, 
when not successful in their hunting expeditions, they suffer 
great hardships. In times of scarcity, numbers die of starva- 
tion and exposure to the cold. 

To meet the requirements of the various Christian congre- 
tions scattered around the shores of the Bay, Mr. Horden has 
recently been appointed chief pastor under the title of Bishop 
of Moosonee. In order to supply the Indians with instruction 
when absent on their hunting expeditions, Bishop Horden 
has translated into the Cree dialect a Bible and Gospel 
History, Prayer Book, the Four Gospels, the Book of Jonah, 




rupert's house in winter. 



Extension of the Mission Eastwards. 



4i 



a catechism, hymn-book, and almanacks for many years, with 
a text of Scripture for each day of the year, and a Bishop's 
letter to the Indians. These he has printed himself, by means 
of a printing-press sent out from England. He has also 
printed in the Soto dialect a prayer-book, hymn-book and 
first catechism ; and in Esquimaux a small general service 
book. 

About 700 miles to the north of Moose Factory is York 
Fort, on the estuary of the Hayes River. It is the principal 
depot of the Hudson's Bay Company. Here the supplies 
for trade are issued, and the returns collected and shipped for 
England. For a long time it was the principal door of access 
into the Hudson's Bay territory. Hence the anxieties and 
privations to which the early Missionaries were exposed. The 
Bay being closed by ice during a large portion of the year, 
they were dependent for their supplies of flour, clothing, 
hardware, tools, domestic utensils, and other things necessary 
to daily comfort, on the annual ship ; when from any cause it 
w r as delayed, or when, as frequently happened, much time was 
lost in forwarding the supplies, the Missionaries and their 
families were often reduced to great straits. Very different is 
it now : magnificent steamers sail weekly from Liverpool to 
Canada, and thence the traveller is conveyed by railway to 
the Red River Settlements ; or he may, if he prefer it, travel 
by way of New York, and reach the boundary-line by means 
of the railway in the United States' territory. 

At York Fort the permanent establishment of the Company 
is large ; brigades of boats engaged in the transport of goods 
to and from the interior are constantly arriving during the 
summer. It is the grand rendezvous of the Indians of the 



42 



Day spring in the Far West. 



surrounding country. They come hither to trade, bringing 
the furs they have collected, and receive in return such things 
as they need for themselves and their families, such as capotes^ 
blankets, caps, files, knives, ammunition, and tobacco. 

The facilities for instructing the Indians who assemble here 
induced the Church Missionary Society to commence the 
Mission in 1854. The first Missionary sent to this fort was 
the Rev. William Mason. In September of that year he thus 
wrote, " A Church Mission House and schools are about to be 
erected at York Factory, and, as opportunities occur, the 
Missionary will visit Severn and Churchill, and thus encircle 
the entire Bay with the Gospel net." 

Churchill is the most northerly of the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany's forts on the Bay, while Fort Severn lies between York 
Fort and Albany, being about 200 miles distant from the 
former. About 400 miles inland, to the south of Severn, is 
Trout Lake, which discharges its waters into the Severn. 
Churchill is visited by the Esquimaux, and at the time Mr. 
Mason entered on his work, there was an excellent interpreter, 
who had been left by Dr. Rae, one of our Arctic explorers. 
No minister of the Gospel had at that time visited Severn. 

"In 1848," says Mr. Mason, "I met with some Indians from 
that quarter ; they earnestly solicited me to baptize them, but 
not having time to know their characters, or even to examine 
them and ascertain the extent of their knowledge, I thought 
it best to defer the matter until some future period, when 
some spiritual provision could be made for them. I shall 
never forget their last interview with me, when they knew 
they must return to their dark abode without the solemn rite 
being administered to them. I said, " Why, you cannot read, 



Extension of the Mission Eastwards. 



43 



you have never been taught." "Yes, we can read," and one 
of them, pulling out of his breast a small parcel, in which he 
had carefully wrapped between two pieces of clean bark his 
small library, consisting of hymn-book, prayer-book, and 
St. John's Gospel, all in the syllabic character, opened one of 
them, and, to my great astonishment, read fluently. I asked 
him how he had learned to read ; he replied, "We teach each 
other ;" with tears in his eyes he embarked in his canoe, 
saying, "We may never see a minister again." 

Thus the Gospel seed sown in the heart of British North 
America had been wafted to remote corners, and, finding good 
soil, it took root, and sprang up and bore fruit. How great 
the encouragement to obey the injunction, " In the morning 
sow T thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand : for 
thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or 
whether both shall be alike good." 

The whole of the Old and New Testament have been trans- 
lated into Cree, which is the language spoken by the Indians 
in this district, by Mr. and Mrs. Mason. There are now no 
heathen at York ; all the Indians, 200 in number, have em- 
braced Christianity. Heathenism, with its cruel rites and 
degrading ceremonies, has passed away. It is not, however, to 
be supposed that all these are Christians without blemish. Of 
what Christian community, even in our own highly favoured 
land, could this be said ? Here, as elsewhere, " the tares grow 
with the wheat," yet there is much to rejoice the heart of the 
true minister of Christ, much that gives promise of a glorious 
harvest to be gathered in when the time shall come. 

In 1870 the Rev. W. W. Kirkby, of whose labours in the 
extreme north our next chapter will contain some account, 



44 Day spring in the Far West. 



was transferred to York Fort. In 1871 he visited Churchill, 
200 miles farther north. Here are found Chipewyan 
Indians, whose dialect differs but little from that spoken in 
the Mackenzie River district. To this place the Esquimaux 
also come periodically. Great joy was manifested by the 
Chipewyans on finding that they were to have a teacher who 
could speak to them in their own tongue. They at once placed 
themselves under instruction, and during the time that they 
remained at Churchill they learnt to read the syllabic 
characters, and expressed an earnest desire to have books in 
their own language, like their neighbours. 

To gratify this wish, Mr. Kirkby drew up a little manual 
containing twenty hymns, the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's 
Prayer, and the Decalogue, private devotions for morning 
and evening, prayers for a family, morning and evening 
service, nearly as in our Prayer Book, and the Litany. The 
manual also contains short chapters on God and providence, 
sin and redemption, the Sabbath and the Bible, heaven and hell, 
the Saviour and the Christian, life and death, resurrection 
and judgment, some account of the birth, childhood, baptism, 
and temptation of Christ, His death, resurrection, and ascen- 
sion. The preparation of this manual occupied all Mr. 
Kirkby's leisure time for three months, and as the Indians only 
occasionally visit Churchill, and often perhaps at a time when 
the Missionary is unavoidably absent, the instruction conveyed 
in this little book, and the power to read it for themselves, is 
a boon for which these poor hunters are truly grateful. 

The territory around Hudson's Bay is perhaps the most 
inhospitable portion of the British possessions in America. 
The summer here is short ; spring, summer, and autumn are 



Extension of the Mission Eastwards. 



45 



all comprised within the four months of June, July, August, 
and September. The summer heat is extreme, and flies and 
musquitoes prevail in millions. After the Indian summer, in 
September, winter sets in rapidly, and from October to April 
the thermometer seldom rises to the freezing-point. In the 
depth of winter it falls from 30 0 to 40 0 below zero, Fahrenheit. 
The average cold is 15 0 or 16 0 below zero. The winds which 
sweep over the Bay render the cold more trying here than 
even in higher latitudes. At Fort Simpson, on the Mackenzie 
River, the cold is much less felt, owing to the serenity of the 
atmosphere, than it is on the shores of Hudson's Bay. 

In these bleak regions the toil of the Missionary is greatly 
increased by the immense distances he must traverse in order 
to carry the Gospel to the tribes scattered over the vast 
wilderness. "I have," says a Missionary, " sometimes seen 
illustrations of winter travelling in this country, in which the 
traveller is represented comfortably wrapped up in his sledge, 
with his dogs going at full speed over the snow : a more truth- 
ful picture would represent the dogs floundering through the 
snow, and the unfortunate driver, with a long pole behind 
the sledge, pushing to assist his worn-out team. Such has 
generally been my experience." 



CHAPTER VI. 



PROCEEDING NORTHWARDS. 

English River. — Mackenzie River. — Youcon River. 

fir^gj^;ROCEEDING northwards from the head of Lake 
gj Winnipeg, which in the Cree language signifies 

P iS f^ " Dirty Water," the Mississippi, or English River 
is reached, which rising near the Rocky Mountains* 
and pursuing an easterly course, falls at length into Hudson's 
Bay. After traversing Lake Nelson, it takes the name of 
Churchill. On its estuary stands Fort Churchill, already 
alluded to as being the most northerly of the Hudson's Bay 
Company's Forts on the Bay. 

To the north of this river are found the Chipewyan 
Indians, a branch of the great Tinne family, of whom some 
account has been given in a previous chapter. Some of 
the Crees have also pushed north of English River. 

Stanley, the Mission station on this river, is distant from 
Red River about 700 miles, and from Fort Churchill about 
600 miles. 

This Mission was commenced in 1845 by Archdeacon 
Hunter, who formed an outpost at Lac la Ronge. The 
Gospel was received with eagerness by the Crees found in ths 



Proceeding Northwards. 



47 



locality ; in a short time they all renounced heathenism. In 
the year 1852 the Rev. R. Hunt, who had been appointed to 
the Lac la Ronge station, transferred the headquarters of the 
Mission to Stanley, about eight miles above the point where 
the English River is joined by its tributary, the Rapid River. 
One object which Mr. Hunt had in view in making this 
change was that he might have greater facilities for instruc- 
ting the Chippewyan Indians. The sterility of the soil in this 
locality has in some degree proved a barrier to the success of 
the Mission, for the necessity of going to a distance to procure 
food rendered it impracticable for the Indians in any great 
numbers to form a settlement in the immediate vicinity of the 
Mission station. The Rev. J. A. Mackay, a native minister, 
ordained in 1862, now resides at Stanley. The Rev. W. C. 
Bompas, when going north to the Mackenzie River Mission, 
in 1865, spent two days at Stanley, which he thus 
describes : — 

" The appearance of the station is attractive ; there is a 
handsome church, good parsonage and garden, schoolroom, 
lodging-house for the children, together with storerooms for 
the Mission premises. The wooden houses of the Indian 
settlers, most of whom have also gardens, and some of 
them cattle and plots of corn-land, are cheering and 
hopeful. Fort Rapid stands immediately opposite the Mission 
station." 

Leaving Stanley, and proceeding to the head of English 
River, Portage la Loche is reached. This is the water-shed of 
this portion of the North American continent. From this point 
the rivers all flow northward to the Arctic Ocean. The traveller, 
having crossed the portage, finds himself in the basin of the 



4 8 



Day spring in the Far West. 



Mackenzie River. Of the many tributaries of the Mackenzie, 
the Athabasca, or Elk, takes its rise close to English River. 
At Fort Chipewyan it is joined by Peace River, after which 
the united streams take the name of Slave River, which after 
flowing onwards for a considerable distance contributes its 
volume of waters to the Great Slave Lake, which occupies an 
area of 1 2,000 square miles. Another tributary of the Macken- 
zie is the Hay River, which takes its rise near the Rocky 
Mountains, not far from the source of the Peace River ; it skirts 
but does not traverse a large lake, called Hay Lake, and then, 
taking a north-westerly course, it falls into Great Slave Lake. 
In its course it forms a stupendous cataract, which is thus 
described by a Missionary, who named this magnificent 
waterfall the Alexandra Falls : — 

"It is a perpendicular fall of about 150 feet high by 500 
feet wide, and of surpassing beauty. The amber colour of the 
falling water gives the appearance of golden tresses twined 
with pearls, while in the spray was a rainbow reaching from 
the foot of the fall to the rocks far above its brink. We viewed 
the fall only from its brink, as access from below is precipitous. 
This waterfall impressed me more with its t beauty than did 
Niagara. The beauty of the scene was enhanced by the 
rainbows in the spray. The shape and contour of the Alexandra 
Falls struck me as very similar to the Horseshoe Fall at 
Niagara, but I think it is superior." 

Advancing from the mouth of the Hay River, along the 
western shore of Great Slave Lake, the Mackenzie is seen 
issuing from the Lake, whence it pursues a northerly course 
to the Arctic Ocean. On this river stands Fort Simpson in 
latitude 6 1° 51' 25" North, and in I2i°5i' 15" West longitude. 



Proceeding Northwards. 



49 



It is distant from Red River 2500 miles. Scattered throughout 
the country around the forts are the Chipewyan Indians. 

A Mission was commenced at this place in 1858, by 
Archdeacon Hunter, who, seeing the efforts made by Romish 
agents to spread their tenets among the Indian tribes 
in the far north, felt that it was the duty of British Protestants 
to preach the Gospel in its purity to the Indians dwelling in 
the most remote portion of British territory, where as yet no 
Protestant Missionary had penetrated. Resigning for a time 
his charge at St. Andrew's, he set out from Red River in June 
1858, on an itinerating tour amongst the Tinne tribes, then 
but little known. 

" I go alone," he wrote, " while the Church of Rome sends 
five Missionaries. Yet I am not alone, for One is with me 
who is mighty to save — a Friend who sticketh closer than a 
brother, and who, I trust, has disposed and called me to this 
work. I feel indeed that this is the leading of Providence, for 
with such a band of priests, the whole of the Mackenzie River 
district would be overrun without any effort to counteract the 
evil. We have lost much ground among these fine Indians of 
the North." 

On his way he encountered at Great Slave Lake one of the 
Romish priests, who openly avowed his intention of opposing the 
establishment of a Protestant Mission in the Mackenzie River 
district. The Archdeacon reached Fort Simpson on the 16th of 
August, and remained there during the summer of 1859, 
instructing the Indians who congregated at the fort. After an 
absence of sixteen months he returned to his home at Red 
River. 

The Rev. W. Kirkby succeeded Archdeacon Hunter in this 

E 



5o 



Day spring in the Far West. 



far-off station, where he had been the first to carry the glad 
tidings of the Gospel. 

The result of Romish teaching was soon evidenced in the 
unwillingness of the Indians to receive instruction from Mr. 
Kirkby. On one occasion, when he went to visit a sick Indian, 
intending at the same time to address others who were present, 
they manifested marked indifference to all he said. When he 
knelt down to pray they all remained sitting still on the floor, 
apparently giving no heed to what was going on. Each had 
a crucifix suspended from his neck, which had been given to 
him by a priest. 

A few days afterwards, however, the saka, or governor 
of a tribe, accompanied by three Indians, arrived at the 
Mission in a starving condition. The saka informed Mr. 
Kirkby that he had not only suffered much from want of 
food, but that he had been in great sorrow on account of the 
death of his son, expressing at the same time great regret that 
he had died unbaptized. He then earnestly requested Mr. 
Kirkby to baptize himself and his companions the next day, 
saying it was chiefly for that they had come. This Mr. Kirkby 
was reluctant to do, fearing they had erroneous notions re- 
specting the sacrament. He therefore endeavoured to explain 
to them the real nature of the ordinance, and pointed them to 
Jesus as the only way by which they could be saved. " Their 
thoughts, if fairly interpreted," says Mr. Kirkby, are these, 
' Baptize us, and we shall be safe/ This they have doubtless 
learnt from the Romanists at Fort Rae." On the following day 
Mr. Kirkby repeated to the saka and his companions the 
instructions of the previous day, and he further explained to them 
the Ten Commandments. They willingly promised obedience 




THE REV. W. W. KIRKBV. 



Proceeding Northwards. 



to everything required of them. Mr. Kirkby then asked them 
what their feelings were ; the saka replied, " We cannot stay 
long here, our camp is twelve days off, we must soon go to it ; 
we don't know what we may find to eat ; perhaps we may 
soon all die ; we wish to be the servants of God's Son, and to 
be baptized, if you will do it." Mr. Kirkby could no longer 
refuse; following the example of Philip, who baptized the 
Ethiopian eunuch on his acknowledgment, " I believe that 
Jesus Christ is the Son of God," he admitted these poor 
wanderers into the Christian Church. " Knowledge," he says, 
" I know they have but little, but none, I think, would doubt 
their earnestness." In the evening of the same day Mr. 
Kirkby again visited the Indians, and spoke to them of the 
duties that devolved upon them, and the blessedness of those 
who continued faithful. 

Here was an earnest of the harvest yet to be gathered 
in. But much patient labour, years of lonely toil, and 
grievous disappointments were to follow. The labourer has 
often "to go forth weeping, bearing precious seed," ere he can 
" come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with 
him." 

In the summer of 1862 Mr. Kirkby resolved to carry the 
Gospel message beyond the northern spurs of the Rocky 
Mountains to the farthest limits of British territory. He 
obtained a canoe, which he named the " Herald," and having 
made the necessary preparations for his long and perilous 
journey, he assembled the little band of Christian Indians 
whom he had by this time gathered around him, and, kneeling 
with them on the bank of the river, " he besought the bless- 
ing of God on those w T ho journeyed, and on those who 

E 2 



5^ 



Day spring in the Far West. 



remained behind." Then, embarking in his canoe, he sailed down 
the Mackenzie to the point, not far from its estuary, where it 
receives the waters of the Peel River ; hethen ascended the latter 
river to Peel Fort, a great rendezvous of the Indians. Here he 
remained three days. He thus describes his visit to the 
Fort :— 

"June 15, 1862. — Never to weary pilgrims was home 
sweeter than was the sight of the fort to us. We arrived at five 
o'clock in the morning, the sun was shining brightly ; indeed, 
there is very little difference between day and night, the sun 
just dips beneath the horizon, and rises again immediately, 
the only observable difference is that during the night the 
heat and glare are not so great. At ten o'clock the 
Indians were invited to attend. They all came, and listened 
quietly and attentively. In the evening I addressed them 
again. Thus ended my first Sabbath within the Arctic 
circle." 

The two following days were also employed in instructing 
the Indians. On the 18th, leaving his canoe behind, he set 
out, accompanied by two guides, to clamber over the Rocky 
Mountains; up and down they went over several ridges, rising 
from 700 to 2800 feet, and at last, by a sudden descent of 1000 
feet into the valley, he reached La Pierre's House, another of 
the Fur Company's forts. Here Mr. Kirkby spent another 
Sabbath ; he addressed the Indians, and had an English ser- 
vice in the evening with the family of the officer in charge of 
the fort. "I never thought to see the day," said the officer, 
with tears in his eyes, " when a minister of the Gospel would 
be at La Pierre's House." 

" The fatigues of the mountains are all forgotten," writes 



REV. VV. \V. KIRKBY IX TRAVELLING DRESS. 



Proceeding Northwards. 



53 



Mr. Kirkby, " and warmly do I thank God for the privilege of 
being a fellow-worker with Him." Here our traveller re- 
mained till the 30th of June, instructing the Indians, and 
learning the Tukuth language. He then embarked in the 
Company's boat on the Rat River, a tortuous stream, which 
makes its way through a rough country, until it reaches the 
Porcupine River, a tributary of the Youcon. Two miles 
above the confluence stands Fort Youcon. Mr. Kirkby thus 
describes his arrival at the Fort : — 

" Jidy 6. — About three o'clock this morning we came to the 
portage which is about two miles from the confluence of the 
Porcupine with the Youcon. It is a straight walk across to 
the fort. Mr. Jones, the gentleman in charge of the boat, 
went that way, and I proposed to accompany him, but the 
Indians begged me to remain in the boat, as they wished to 
take me to the fort themselves. They enjoined secrecy on 
Mr. Jones, no one at the fort, of course, having an idea of my 
coming. In a very little while we met the waters of the 
Youcon, a magnificent river, at least three miles wide, and 
studded with islands. We had to mount the current to the 
fort, which, though only two miles distant, took us two hours 
to reach. There were about 500 Indians present, all of whom 
were filled with astonishment and delight to see me in the 
boat. Before going ashore, I requested them all to stand 
in lines, that I might shake hands with them, a task I 
knew I should have to perform. With a little shouting and 
excitement, they formed themselves two deep, and thus 
expedited the duty. This being over, I went into the house 
for a few hours, thinking it best to allow the Indians who 
had come in the boat to tell their tidings first." 



54 



Day spring in the Far West. 



Thus the glorious light of the Gospel of Christ, which first 
dawned on the land a hundred years ago, when the Moravians 
established their first Mission on the shores of Labrador, had 
penetrated to the farthest limits of the British dominions in 
America. 

Fort Youcon is, however, no longer within the English 
boundary-line. In 1869 the United States' Government laid 
claim to the fort in virtue of the treaty by which Russia 
ceded all the forts in the territory to America. Fort Youcon, 
in latitude 66° 33' north, and longitude 143 0 44' 10", is, it 
appears, seventy-five miles west of the American boundary, and 
is therefore now included in the province of Alaska. The 
United States' Government lost no time in placing steamers 
on the Youcon and the Porcupine, hence there are now greater 
facilities for travelling, which will enable Missionaries to 
preach the Gospel to the Tukuth from time to time, with less 
iabour and fatigue than Mr. Kirkby encountered as the first 
Missionary explorer of the Far North West. The distance of 
Fort Youcon from Red River is about 3,500 miles. It is, how- 
ever, easier of access from the Mission station on the western side 
of the Rocky Mountains, and it would be comparatively easy 
for a Missionary to itinerate amongst the Tukuth from that 
point, provided there were an adequate staff of Missionaries 
qualified for the work. Bishop Anderson pointed out the 
importance of itinerating work in his charge to the clergy at 
Red River in i860 : — 

" More must be done by itinerating in districts where 
distances are counted by thousands of miles ; we cannot cover 
the surface with large and expensive stations ; we must rather 
take a centre, and from it carry the truth in diverging lines. 



Proceeding Northwards. 



55 



Such must be the aggression on the Mackenzie River and in 
the North- West." 



safe for a missionary to declare the Gospel among the Indians 
at the Youcon, because it would clash with their habits of 
infanticide, polygamy, and Shamanism. 1 I desired, therefore, 
to act with prudence. I knew the Indians who had been in 
the boat would report favourably of what they had heard and 
seen. Mr. Hardisty, formerly the chief trader here, gave me a 
letter for them, which Mr. Lockhart, the gentleman now in 
charge, read to them, at the same time commending me him- 
self to their attention. On his return, I w r ent out, and, seating 
them in semicircles upon the ground, delivered to them my 
message. I said nothing about the peculiar sins of which 
they were guilty, but as plainly and earnestly as possible 
showed them their ruin by nature, and the marvellous way of 
salvation our God hath provided for us ; after which, with 
the aid of those who had been in the boat, I sang a hymn, 
and then all for the first time knelt in prayer. Oh ! it was a 
goodly sight to see that vast number, who had never prayed 
before, bending their knees, and trying to syllable the name 
of Jesus. The service ended, the principal chief, a rough, 

1 Shamanism is a system of demonolatry, sacrifices being offered to 
demons in order to prevent them doing mischief to the offerer. It was the 
old religion of the Tartar race before the introduction of Buddhism and 
Mohammedanism. It still prevails in Siberia. The Shamanites believe 
in the existence of a Supreme God, but they offer Him no worship. 
They believe the demons to be revengeful and capricious, hence they 
hope to propitiate them by bloody sacrifices and frantic dances. — " Land 
of Charity." 




56 



Day spring in the Far West. 



bold, energetic man, made a vigorous speech, and after him 
another did the same. Antoine, the Fort interpreter, informed 
me that they were glad I had come down, and that the chief 
had declared his intention of being guided by what I said, 
and requested all his followers to do the same. The second 
chief re-echoed his sentiments. Joy filled my very soul, and I 
sought my chamber to weep there. 

" Mr. Lockhart kindly placed the largest room in the Fort 
at my disposal ; and having arranged my Bible illustrations 
round it, and divided the Indians into four parties, with a 
chief at the head of each, I purpose having one party in at a 
time for instruction, and, morning and evening, to have 
service with them outside collectively. On these occasions 
the Fort interpreter has kindly promised to help me, and as he 
will be engaged during the day, William, who came down with 
me from La Pierre's House, will do admirably for the 
classes. 

" July 7. Lord's Day. — At six o'clock we had service 
outside, when I addressed the Indians on the duties of God's 
own day. Every soul was present, and paid the greatest 
attention to what was said, and were really rejoiced when I 
told them of the way it was observed by the Indians of 
Norway House, Cumberland, &c. After breakfast I had a 
short service for the Europeans, of whom there are seven 
here ; and then the Indians in their classes till evening. To- 
night they warmed much with their subject, and appear more 
and more delighted to hear. I cannot doubt that God is 
inclining their hearts to Himself. They have hitherto been 
notorious for violence and turbulence of character. Only last 
autumn a man was stabbed close to the Fort, and his wife 



Proceeding Northwards. 



57 



stolen. The poor sufferer lingered a day or so and then 
died. 

" July 8.— At the six o'clock service this morning, I exhorted 
the Indians very strongly to repentance for their sins past, and 
to holiness of life for the future. At the close of the service, 
the medicine man, a most notorious person, who has wielded 
unlimited influence over the minds of all, stood up, and, in 
the presence of all, renounced his curious arts. If he is really 
sincere, the Gospel will have achieved a noble victory. He is 
certainly the great high-priest of Shamanism here, and with 
him I hope it will fall. Being, however, so thoroughly rooted 
in their minds, and possessing, as they all do, such confidence 
in its powers, it will not be a little effort that will overcome it, 
and therefore I must not be too sanguine. At my classes 
five men declared openly that they had been guilty of murder, 
and expressed much sorrow, with the determination, God 
helping them, never to do so again. At the evening service 
I spoke to them upon the first four commandments with a 
view of leading them to-morrow to the sixth and seventh, 
the sins of which I cannot longer refrain from bringing before 
them, and openly denouncing. 

" July 9. — The sixth and seventh commandments were ex- 
plained this morning at the early service, and so far from the 
Indians taking offence, the message brought conviction to some. 
Cenati, who has killed many Indians, and who now has no 
fewer than five wives, stood up in the presence of all, and 
acknowledged his transgression, and voluntarily offered to 
give up four of his wives. Others who had two wives followed 
his example. On all it was imperatively enjoined that 
from this day polygamy was to cease. This met with the 



53 



Day spring in the Far West. 



most hearty approval of all, young and old, men and women, 
chiefs and followers. 

" Then came the sad and harrowing tales of murder and 
infanticide. No fewer than thirteen women confessed to having 
slain their infant girls ; some in the most cruel and heartless 
manner. The day was fully occupied with these matters, and 
in the evening the following three commandments were ex- 
plained. Thank God, the way is now clear, the whole counsel 
of God may be fully declared to them. The gentlemen of 
the Fort testify that they never could have believed the 
Indians would be so tractable. 

" July 10. — At the morning service I declared fully the 
way of salvation through a crucified Redeemer. Every one 
paid the greatest attention. In the afternoon I had the 
classes as usual, when three more men acknowledged 
having killed others, but said, ' they were then like people in 
a thick wood, not knowing the right track from the wrong ; 
now they can see a little, and will never do so again/ This 
afternoon about twenty of the Indians left ; their provisions 
being spent, they could remain no longer. All the others 
were at the evening service as usual. As I had done at 
La Pierre's House, I endeavoured here to teach the hymn, 
and morning and evening prayer, which I had translated into 
Loucheux, to five or six of the young men thoroughly, so 
that they may teach others after my departure. To-night 
three of them, at my request, conducted service with all the 
others, just as if I were not present, and all of them managed 
it admirably. As these will each be with a separate party or 
tribe during the winter, God's praise, will, I trust be sung, 
from day to day, in places where it has never been sung 



Proceeding Northwards. 



59 



before. They are also learning the Ten Commandments by- 
heart likewise; and to-night the great medicine man stood 
up before all the others, as they were seated on the ground, 
and said them all perfectly, his countrymen repeating them 
after him. Of course the longer commandments were not 
said in full. Each one consisted of one sentence only ; thus, 
the fourth was, " Thou shalt keep God's day holy," and so on 
with the others. It will be a great point gained, however, if 
one from each tribe learns them even thus, to teach through 
the winter to others. 

" July 12. — Service and classes this morning as usual. At 
three o'clock in the afternoon I assembled them again for a 
brief farewell address. I earnestly pressed upon them the 
necessity for firmness in the truths in which they had been 
instructed ; and besought them with all diligence to cleave 
unto the Lord Jesus Christ. They were all deeply moved, 
and begged of me to come again next year so earnestly, that 
they extorted the promise from me. I could not refuse, and 
yet I ought not to have done so, as I had in a manner pledged 
myself to go to Bear Lake, having disappointed them there 
this year. My hope is, however, that a fellow-labourer will 
arrive by the boats, and we shall thus be able to meet the 
wishes of both parties. The speech of the principal chief 
and the medicine man were very noble and: good, and mani- 
fested much wisdom and good feeling. A chief from near 
Behring's Straits said it had all been like a dream to him. 
He did not know whether he could carry much of what he 
had heard to his people, but as I had promised to come again 
next year, he would, if alive, bring a number of his people up, 
that they might hear for themselves." 



6o 



Day spring in the Far West. 



" The very thought of the Redeemer's praise being sung 
from the extreme east to the far west is," says Mr. Kirkby, 
" exhilarating, and helps us to look forward to the time when 
all dwellers in the wilderness shall kneel before Him." 

On the 13th of July Mr. Kirkby set out on his return to 
the Mackenzie River. He writes : — " We are again fairly on 
our way. I shall, I fear, be very tired of my canoe long before 
reaching La Pierre's House. It is so small that there is barely 
room to sit in, and of course I am obliged to keep motionless, 
lest the canoe should capsize. In addition to myself, I have 
a little Indian boy, about ten years old, who was given to me 
yesterday by his father, to train and educate for future useful- 
ness, if God be so pleased to use him. He is a nice little boy, 
and will, I think, learn quickly. He has attached himself to 
me, poor little fellow, but he could not refrain from crying 
very much last night for his father. His mother died two or 
three years ago. From his having two rather large teeth in 
front of his mouth, he is called " Beaver Teeth/' but I hope to 
give him my own name William. — July 27, We have toiled 
hard, hoping to reach La Pierre's House, but, finding it impos- 
sible, we have encamped, and, by a very early start, hope to be 
there shortly after breakfast. During the fifteen days we 
have been coming up the Youcon, we have not seen a single 
Indian, all being in the interior, making their summer hunts. 
The Indian who promised to have a supply of dried meat for 
us failed. Had we not therefore been fortunate in shooting 
some geese, we should have been poorly off. — July 28. About 
eleven o'clock this morning we reached La Pierre's House. 
The officer in charge and his wife received me most kindly, as 
did the few Indians present. I held a service with the Indians, 



Proceeding Northwards. 



61 



and in the afternoon I baptized the wife of the officer in charge 
and her daughter, about six years old. — July 29. After six- 
teen nights sleeping in the open air, on the sand, gravel, or 
stones, just as the beach happened to be when we encamped, 
I enjoyed the quiet and luxury of a night's lodging in the 
house again. — July 30. After breakfast, we wished our friends 
at La Pierre's House good-bye, and set off on our toilsome 
journey across the mountains. — July 31. The first night after 
leaving Peel's River, four Indians joined us with a supply of 
food for our need, and, by a strange coincidence, this morning, 
when we awoke, three Indians were with us who had come up 
to us with a supply of food during the night. As soon as I saw 7 
them, I recognized them as old friends. They had been to La 
Pierre's House, hoping to meet me there, and, hearing we had 
started they followed us. Two of them will go with us to Peel's 
River. — Aug, 2. I reached Peel's River in good time to-day. 
About sixty Indians were present, and standing on the bank was 
the Roman Catholic priest whom I met in the Good Hope boats. 
It appears that he heard of my intention of going to Youcon 
and at once hired a canoe and Indians, and chased me down, 
arriving here two days after I had left. He was much disap- 
pointed to find that I had gone, and made some preparations 
to follow, but being unwell, and hearing of the bad walking, 
the rivers to ford, and swamps to go through, he changed his 
mind, and has remained here ever since. — Aug. 3. I left the 
Fort at three o'clock this morning with the boats. Up to the 
moment of my departure I was busily engaged with the 
Indians, who were just as anxious to learn as I was to instruct. 
The canoe has taught me to appreciate the comforts of the 
boats, and twenty-eight nights sleeping outside, with only a 



62 



Day spring in the Far West. 



blanket, has taught me to value the comfort of a tent. We 
expect to be twenty-five days going up to Fort Simpson. — 
Aug. 6. We came up to a camp of Indians this morning, and 
remained three hours with them. — Aug. \2. Arrived at Fort 
Good Hope at six o'clock this morning. About thirty Indians 
were present, most of them joined us in our evening devotions. 
— Aug. 29. I reached home this evening in health and safety 
It is precisely three months to-day since I left, during which 
I have travelled over at least 3000 miles, and have been 
honoured by God to carry the glad tidings of salvation far with- 
in the Arctic Circle to a people who had never heard it before." 

In October of this year, 1862, the Rev. Robert Macdonald 
arrived in the Youcon district, having been appointed to take 
charge of this new work. He at once commenced the study 
of the Tukuth language, in order that he might address the 
Indians in their own tongue. He not only instructed those at 
the Fort, but he went amongst the Indians in the surrounding 
country, preaching and teaching as he fou'hd opportunity. A 
leading chief of the Youcons was a first-fruit of his ministry. 
This chief died towards the close of the year 1864, "exhorting 
his people to become Christians indeed, that they might follow 
him to that blessed place whither he felt sure he was going." 
Here Mr. Macdonald still labours assiduously, traversing the 
country, and carrying the Gospel to numerous tribes hitherto 
strangers to the joyful sound. It is surely a hopeful sign that 
nearly all listen to his teaching with attention, and to many 
the Holy Spirit has brought home the message with con- 
vincing power, leading them to forsake their heathen customs 
and to seek admission into the Christian Church. In one tribe 
indeed there are scarcely any unbaptized persons. 




TUKUTH OR LOUCHEUX CHIEF. 



Proceeding Northwards. 



63 



The Tukuth Indians differ in their customs from other 
tribes on the Continent. " They are," says Mr. Kirkby, " the 
only people I have met with who either collect wealth or have 
a system of barter. Their medium of currency is beads; the 
standard bead is a large one of white enamel manufactured in 
Italy. They are purchased from the Company's stores, and 
threaded by the women on strips of fine leather, a fathom 
being equal to the Company's standard of a mole beaver." 

"They are an athletic and fine-looking race, about the 
average stature, and remarkably well proportioned. They have 
black hair, fine sparkling eyes, well-set teeth, moderately high 
cheek-bones, and a fair complexion. They perforate the 
septum of the nose, and insert two shells joined together and 
tipped with a coloured bead at each end. Their dress is a 
kind of peaked shirt, made of deer-skin, dressed with the hair 
on, and trousers to which shoes are attached. The hinder part 
of the shirt is fringed with fancy beads, and small leathern 
tassels, wound round with dyed porcupine quills, and strung 
with the silvery fruit of the oleaster. The hair is tied behind 
in a cue, bound round at the root with a fillet of shells and 
beads, and loose at the end. The tail feathers of the eagle 
or fishing-hawk are stuck in the hair at the back of the head. 
The only difference between the dress of the women and that 
of the men is that the tunic of the former is rather longer, 
rounded instead of pointed in the front, and more profusely 
decorated with beads or hyaqua shells." 

u For the purpose of taking fish they construct weirs, a practice 
common in British Columbia, but which does not exist east- 
ward of the Rocky Mountains, while of the nets of the Crees 
they are ignorant. Their deer-skin tents or lodges are hemi- 



6 4 



Day spring in the Far West. 



spherical in shape, resembling the Esquimaux snow-houses, 
and the Yourts of the Asiatic Nomades." 

Mr. Kirkby has translated into the native dialect a number 
of prayers, hymns, and tracts, a catechism, short Bible lessons, 
and an abridgment of Gospel history. He also collected 
materials from which a skeleton grammar and vocabulary have 
been formed by the fellow-labourers who came to his aid 
towards the close of the year 1865, as we shall find in our next 
chapter. The acquisition of the language will thus be ren- 
dered easier to the Missionaries who may in future occupy 
this post. These translations are in the syllabic character, 
which is quickly learnt by the Indians. 

A handsome church, dwelling-house, and school were erected 
by Mr. Kirkby at Fort Simpson, and this in a place where only 
two or three labourers can be obtained at a time. During the 
erection of these buildings, Mr. Kirkby himself worked as 
hard as a day-labourer. Nor, while so engaged, were the 
higher duties of a Missionary neglected. Besides ministering 
to the Indian tribes scattered over the country from the 
Mackenzie to Fort Youcon, Mr. Kirkby manifested a Christ- 
like zeal for the souls of the servants of the Hudson's Bay 
Company at the posts in the districts. " Quite a revival in 
religion is attributed by the Company's officers to his exertions 
amongst them," wrote the Missionary sent to his aid in 
1866. 

Exposed to temptation, as these Europeans are, far away 
from the restraints of civilization, how invaluable is the in- 
fluence of the true minister of Christ, who, instructing in season, 
and out of season, labours to bring the wanderers into the 
fold ! Here in a remote corner of the earth is noiselessly 



Proceeding No rth Zc >ards. 




arising upon the true foundation, Jesus Christ, a portion of the 
building which groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord. 

" . . . . Then in awful state 
The Temple reard its everlasting gate, 
No workman's steel, no ponderous axes rung ; 
Like some tall palm the noiseless fabric sprung. 
.... Hark ! white-robed crowds their deep hosannas raise, 
And the hoarse flood repeats the sound of praise, 
Ten thousand harps attune the mystic song, 
Ten thousand saints the strain prolong, 
Worthy the Lamb ! Omnipotent to save, 
Who died, who lives, triumphant o'er the grave.'' 



Bishop Heber's Palestine. 




F 



CHAPTER VII. 



MR. BOMPAS* JOURNEYS IN THE FAR NORTH. 

Appointment of Rev. W. C. Bompas to Mackenzie River. — His Journey 
North. — Great Bear Lake. — Indian Camps, Fort Rae, Fort Vermillion. 
— Return to Athabasca. — Youcor..— Peace River.- — Gold Mines. 



|N the year 1865 the Rev. W. C. Bompas, having 
offered his services to the Church Missionary 
Society, was appointed to the Mackenzie River 
Mission. It was intended that he should proceed, 
as soon as he had acquired some knowledge of the language, 
to the Youcon district, to supply the place of Mr. Macdonald, 
whose health had temporarily failed. He left London June 
30th, and travelling by way of the United States, reached 
Cumberland House, on the north bank of the Saskatchewan, 
August 28th ; hastening on from thence, he reached Fort 
Simpson on the Mackenzie, on the morning of Christmas 
Day. Mr. Kirkby thus expresses the pleasure he experienced 
at his arrival. — " You will imagine better than I can tell you, 
our delight at the unexpected arrival of Mr. Bompas. Such 
a thing as an arrival here in winter is never thought of, nor 
had ever before occurred. After the boats have left in the 
fall, we have no visitors until June, when the rivers again 
open." 



Mr. Bompas Journeys in the Far North. 67 



The joy with which the Missionary welcomed his fellow- 
labourer may be better imagined, when we remember that 
Mr. Kirkby had been working alone for six years, utterly 
isolated during that long period from the civilized world. 
Moreover, the autumn of that year had been a peculiarly 
trying one ; scarlet fever had broken out amongst the Indians, 
and the whole of Mr. Kirkby's family had been prostrated by 
the malady. Thus with a heavy heart he had ministered 
to the sick and dying Indians in their tents around, with none 
to cheer him with sympathy, or to render to those dear to 
him the kindly aid so much required in times of sickness. 

Mr. Bompas arrived in time for the morning service, and in 
the evening he began his work by preaching from St. Luke 
ii. 10, u Behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which 
shall be to all people " — the very text from which Samuel 
Marsden first preached to the New Zealanders exactly fifty- 
one years before. 

He thus describes his journey north from Cumberland 
House : — " Our course at first lay across Cumberland Lake, 
which is large, and connected with various other lakes in 
different directions. From Cumberland Lake we entered 
Sturgeon River, whose shoals are of great notoriety among 
the navigators of this country. Though only twelve miles in 
length, as the crow T flies, it. took us five days to pass this river, 
the boat's crew being mostly in the water tugging the boat 
over the shallows, and the rainy weather made this part of the 
voyage unpleasant. After leaving Sturgeon River, and 
crossing Beaver Lake, favourable winds made our progress 
more expeditious, and some bright sun enabled us to dry the 
tents, bedding, and cargoes, which were all becoming gradually 

F 2 



68 Day spring in the Far West. 



saturated with wet. The banks of the rivers maintained 
generally the same appearance. Thick woods of birch, alder, 
poplar, and ash, shut out any distant prospects, while the 
rocky shelves of granite or hard limestone gave but little 
promise of fertility in the soil. At Frog Portage we were 
delayed two days ; one of these was Sunday, and we had a 
quiet service on shore, attended by the few men of the crew 
who profess the Protestant faith. A few days brought us from 
Frog Portage to Rapid River, where we were again detained 
two days. From Rapid River our course was expedited by 
favourable winds. A short service was held regularly on 
Sunday, and such of the crew as were Protestants attended 
and joined in singing a hymn such as they had learned in our 
churches at Red River." 

Arrived at Isle a la Crosse, a detention of three days 
occurred. Here Mr. Bompas was entertained by Mr. Macken- 
zie, the Company's officer in charge of the district. Many 
Chipewyans were encamped round the fort, but for the want 
of an interpreter Mr. Bompas was unable to address them. 
This place is the head-quarters of the Roman Catholic Mission 
for the north. There is a good church and three houses, in 
which reside a bishop, priest, one or two lay brothers, and two 
or three sisters of mercy/' On the 12th of October Portage 
La Loche was reached, and after the delay of one day, Mr. 
Bompas obtained a horse and cart to transport his luggage 
across the hills, and continued his journey. "The view from 
the brow of the hill, which terminates the Portage, is very 
striking. You see the river gliding from among the hills at 
the foot of the steep, and winding for many miles between 
lofty slopes, covered with birch and pine, until a ridge of blue 



Mr. Bompas Journeys in the Far North. 69 



hills in the distance bounds the prospect. The country to the 
north of the Portage is more interesting. The soil no longer 
consists of a thin layer of earth on the hard rock, but is more 
abundant, and on a soft or sandv foundation. The trees are 
therefore more lofty, and the woods, moreover, less frequently 
devastated by running fires. On the banks of the Atha- 
basca River, the various geological strata are well displayed 
in the cliffs, and these are frequently filled with fossil shells 
and corals, &c. In some places there are salt springs, in others 
abundance of bitumen, both in a solid and liquid state. The 
woods occasionally open out into fine prairies of hay grass ; 
horses are allowed to remain unprotected in the prairie 
all winter, where they find their food by scraping the snow 
with their feet from the grass beneath. " After eight days' 
paddling in the canoe, Fort Chipewyan was reached 
on Athabasca Lake. The winter's frost had now set in, and for 
several days the water froze on the paddles of the canoe, but the 
weather continued fine and bright, and INIr. Bompas deter- 
mined to push on. He obtained a large canoe, and engaged 
three Indian lads to take him down Slave River to Slave Lake. 
In seven days he had accomplished considerably more than 
half the distance, but then ice appeared in the river, and it was 
necessary to cut a passage with an axe. On the 9th day he 
was compelled to leave his canoe and baggage "en cache " on 
the river bank, the ice having become too thick to allow of 
his proceeding by water. He and the three Indian boys set 
off to walk through the woods to Fort Resolution, the nearest 
of the Company's forts. Two days' scrambling through brush- 
wood and thickets brought them to their destination. Here 
Mr. Bompas was compelled to remain three weeks, until the 



7o 



Day spring in the Far West. 



ice on Slave Lake became sufficiently fixed to enable him to 
travel with a sledge and snow-shoes. As soon as this could 
be done with safety he continued his journey, and arrived, as 
we have already seen, at Fort Simpson, on the Mackenzie, on 
the morning of Christmas Day. 

Here he learned that Mr. Macdonald, having regained 
his health, had already resumed his work in the Youcon 
district. Mr. Bompas therefore remained at Fort Simpson 
until Easter, assisting Mr. Kirkby, and acquiring the 
language, in order that he might as soon as possible 
commence an itinerating Mission amongst the Indian tribes 
scattered along the shores of the lakes and rivers of the 
north. He first proceeded to Great Bear Lake, which he 
thus describes : — 

" This large lake is about 200 miles long by 1 50 broad. The 
Hudson's Bay Company's Fort, known as Fort Norman, is 
situated at the south-western extremity of the lake, in latitude 
65°north, longitude I23°west. The lake remains covered with ice 
from the beginning of November till the end of June, or eight 
months out of twelve. The adjoining country is covered with 
snow for nearly a similar period, viz., from the middle of October 
to the end of May. During the short summer, many pretty wild 
flowers of small kinds grow on the shores of the lake, especially 
those of a lilac colour, one like a small azalea on the marshy 
ground, and one like a clarkia amongst sand, also wild roses, 
anemones, &c. Many varieties of small ground berries also 
spring up very quickly during the summer months. They 
ripen in the fall, and many of them remain all the winter 
under the snow, so that on the return of spring they are found 
at once ready for eating, for the benefit as well of man as of 



Mr. Bompas Journeys in the Far North. 71 



ducks and geese, which fly across the lake in great numbers 
at the time of their spring and autumn migrations. 

" The temperature of the shores of the lake is cold even in 
summer. The thermometer on some warm days shows 
summer heat (76 0 Fahrenheit), but generally there is a cool 
air from the lake, at least until the ice has quite disappeared. 
The mosquitos are troublesome from the end of June to the 
end of July. Fish is plentiful in the lake. The chief kinds 
caught at Fort Norman are the herring and trout. The 
herring is twice the size of the salt water herring caught on 
the English coasts, but resembles it in form and in the struc- 
ture of its bones as well as in taste, which is delicate and good. 
The herring is caught in nets in the summer time, and in the 
winter it is speared through a hole in the ice ; one man will 
sometimes take in this way a hundred in a day. The trout 
are large, weighing from twenty to thirty pounds, and some- 
times even as much as sixty pounds. The appearance and 
taste are much like rich salmon. In the fall they are so fat 
that lamp oil is extracted from them. They are taken with 
cod hooks and with nets, and twenty or thirty may be caught 
in a day. In other parts of the lake white fish are caught. 
In spring a few wild geese are shot. The principal supply of 
food is deer's meat. Bands of many thousands of migratory 
reindeer traverse the lake in winter. The Indians commonly 
kill a deer and take only its tongue, leaving the carcase to rot. 
The hides alone would be valuable in England, could they be 
transported thither. 

" In summer, the deer migrate to the barren grounds on the 
shores of the Arctic Sea, principally, it is supposed, led by 
their instincts to shun the mosquitos which abound in the 



72 



Day spring in the Far West 



woods in summer. The Indians follow the deer for their 
summer hunts until the snow falls, when both deer and 
Indians return to the neighbourhood of the Lake. Besides 
the deer, the Indians hunt for the Company the beaver, 
marten, fox, &c, for which they are paid by the Company in 
supplies of clothes, kettles, axes, beads, tobacco, and other 
things brought from England for the purpose. For meat 
they are paid only in ammunition. From the intercourse 
which the Indians have now for some time had with white 
men, and especially from their receiving from them European 
clothing, the appearance and demeanour of the natives has 
lost much of its savage character. At the same time in 
morals or intelligence, in the arts and habits of civilized life, 
it does not appear that the Indian has been at all raised or 
improved by trading. This appears a complete answer to 
the question whether trade or the Gospel is to be the instru- 
ment for raising the barbarian to the rank of civilized men. 

" The Indians show considerable skill in the manufacture of 
their birch-bark canoes, of their snow-shoes, and leather 
mocassins ; in making twine, fishing-nets, and rope ; in work- 
ing with porcupine quills and beads ; and the Europeans are 
content to learn these arts from 'the natives, or else employ 
them to work for them in these matters. On the other hand, 
it does not clearly appear what the Europeans have taught 
the Indians, unless it is the habit of smoking and playing 
cards ; so that the balance of obligation would seem to 
remain in favour of the savage. With respect to moral 
character, too, though the heathen have not much to boast of, 
yet it is generally admitted that the preference should be 
given to them rather than to the white men, or at least that 



Mr. Bompas Journeys in the Far North. 73 



the natives have learned more harm than good from us, even 
though, in this district, the white man has not yet introduced 
that fatal destroyer of the Indian race, alcohol. In health 
the Indians have sadly suffered by the arrival of the white 
man, having become liable to several European diseases. 

u They appear to be gradually losing their native hardihood, 
partly, perhaps, through the constant use of tobacco ; while 
the use of copper kettles, in a filthy state, from which the 
tin lining soon disappears, endangers a slow poisoning from 
verdigris. By imparting a true and sound religion, the white 
man might atone for, or, at least, supply a remedy for all 
these evils ; but no, in this he sins against the Indian worst 
of all. 

" The Indians here were quite free from idolatry. Their 
religion owned a good and an evil spirit, together with the 
immortality of the soul, and retribution after death for good 
or evil done in this life. How is it now ? A bishop, seven or 
eight priests, several brothers, and perhaps sisters, too, are 
industriously teaching these 500 credulous Indians (the whole 
estimated population of the district) the established principles 
of idolatry and superstition. The whole of this company of 
priests append to their names the initials O. I. M., or devotee 
of the Immaculate Mary ; and they are sworn to uphold the 
glories of the Virgin, and especially the doctrine of her 
immaculate conception, as invented and promulgated by the 
present Pope. 

" Every Indian, therefore, on seeing a priest, receives from 
him, first, a brass medal to wear round his neck, with the 
letter M on one side, and an image of the Virgin on the other ; 
secondly, a rosary, with, alternately, ten small beads, for as 



74 



Day spring in the Far West. 



many Ave Marias, and one large one for a Pater Noster ; 
thirdly, he gets a large gaudy-coloured picture of the Virgin, 
surrounded by prayers to her ; and fourthly, when baptized, 
he receives a small crucifix. All these idols he is industriously 
taught to worship, and is forced, also, to kneel down in the 
priest's presence and worship the cross, or the Virgin's image. 
When besides this, he has been taught that if he visits the 
Protestant Missionaries he will at once die, and go to the 
' big fire,' the poor credulous Indian's religious education is 
then at last complete." 

Mr. Bompas remained during the spring and summer at 
Great Bear Lake ; the months of October and November he 
spent in the Indian camps, three or four days from Fort Nor- 
man. He thus describes the mode of life. " Living in the 
Indian tents is not hard to me: their hours of sleeping and 
eating are regular, and they are mostly occupied in some use- 
ful w r ay, fishing, snaring rabbits, making snow-shoes, and 
sledges, and other manual labour, while the women are chiefly 
employed in dressing deer-skins." The Indians in this locality 
are good-natured and hospitable, and they cheerfully hunted 
rabbits and deer for Mr. Bompas, and a party of eight persons 
who had joined him from Fort Norman. He visited the tents 
day by day, and found willing and attentive listeners. One of 
the chiefs, and the Indian who hunted for him, took special 
interest in his teaching. In January, 1867, Mr. Bompas went 
to Fort Rae on Great Slave Lake. This place had never 
before been visited by a Protestant Missionary, but a large 
number of the Indians had been baptized by Romish priests. 
It took twenty days to reach Fort Rae, travelling on foot, and 
accomplishing from twenty to twenty-five miles each day. 



Mr. Bompas J 'otirneys in the Far North. 7 5 



Here our Missionary remained till the summer, when he pro- 
ceeded to Fort Chipewyan on Athabasca Lake. Here he 
remained eight months, diligently teaching the Indians the 
first elements of the Christian religion, and at the same time 
learning to speak the various dialects of the different tribes. 

In January, 1868, Mr. Bompas carried the Gospel message 
to Fort Vermilion on Peace River, one of the feeders of Lake 
Athabasca. Here are found the Beaver Indians, who are lively, 
intelligent, and good-tempered, but idle and helpless, and the 
tribe appears to be fast dwindling away. Thus in the course 
of two years, this zealous servant of the Master had travelled 
1300 miles on foot, preaching the Gospel to 1500 Indians, 
belonging to four different tribes. Twenty years previously 
Mr. Evans, a Wesleyan Missionary, had visited Vermilion, and 
his visit was held in grateful remembrance by the Indians, 
even at that great distance of time. No other Protestant 
Missionary had reached Vermilion during that long interval. 
But here Air. Bompas found Indians who had been brought up 
at Red River, living with their wives and families, of whom he 
says, " In education, habits of life, and deportment, they can- 
not be distinguished from Europeans. The seed sown at Red 
River is bearing fruit 1000 miles off." 

At Vermilion moose and beaver are abundant, the climate 
mild, the soil good, and adapted to the growth of wheat, barley, 
and vegetables ; horses also abound here. The Indians 
manifested an earnest desire for instruction ; and let it not be 
said that Protestant Christians withhold from these poor 
children of the wilderness the glorious light of the Gospel of 
Christ, when it is in their power to give it to them, and thereby 
to save many souls alive. Nor must any time be lost through 



7 6 Day spring in the Far West, 



intercourse with the white man ; the Indian constitution seems 
to have been enfeebled, and he falls an easy prey to the 
diseases introduced by the European. Measles, scarlet fever, 
and smallpox, are peculiarly fatal to the Indian ; and unless 
prompt measures are taken for his evangelization, thousands 
will have passed into eternity, knowing no God, and having no 
hope. 

In May, Mr. Bompas returned to Athabasca Lake, remain- 
ing there until August, when he again returned to Fort 
Simpson to supply the place of Mr. Kirkby, whose health 
rendered it desirable that he should visit England. From this 
place he penetrated into the Youcon territory, where Mr. 
Macdonald had now laboured alone for seven years. How 
gladly he welcomed his fellow-labourer, and how cheering it 
was to him to enjoy intercourse with a friend for the first 
time during his solitary exile, we must leave our readers to 
imagine. In April, 1870, Mr. Bompas, accompanied by two 
Esquimaux, descended the Mackenzie River (then in a frozen 
state) on snow-shoes, in order to visit the Esquimaux, whose 
numbers are considerable, and who were living in the darkness 
of heathenism. Of his sojourn amongst this people our next 
chapter will give a full account. In the autumn of 1869, the 
Rev. W. D. Reeve had arrived at Fort Simpson to occupy 
Mr. Kirkby's post, and thus Mr. Bompas was set free to carry 
on his itinerating Mission in the wide field, extending from 
English River to the Polar Sea. 

In the spring of 1871, Mr. Bompas ascended the Peace 
River to Rocky Mountain Portage, the extreme point of 
Rupert's Land on the west, separated from British Columbia 
by the Rocky Mountains. 



THE RIGHT REV. W. C. BOMPAS, BISHOP OF ATHABASCA. 



Mr. Bompas Journeys in the Far North. 77 



At Fort Dunvegan, in this district, he found 150 Cree 
Indians from the plains south of the Saskatchewan, who had 
fled from the ravages of smallpox in the plains. " Great 
excitement," wrote Mr. Bompas, " has been caused by the 
discovery of gold at the head waters of the Peace River ; 2000 
miners are said to have been working there during the last 
twelve months ; some of them have not been successful, but a 
considerable quantity of gold has, I believe, been procured. 
This discovery will doubtless lead to the opening up of the 
country ; waggon roads are being made from the coast, at 
Government expense, to supply the miners with provisions, 
and other necessaries ; already the traffic is considerable. 

" No Protestant minister has ever visited the gold-mines in 
New Caledonia. The miners are said to be orderly and well 
regulated, a judge being resident among them, and everything 
provided for them except the Gospel. They are said nearly 
all to abstain from work on the Sabbath, notwithstanding the 
excitement of their occupation, and that mining operations 
are restricted by the frost to four months in the year. 

" The miners are of all nations, Chinese and Negroes as well 
as white men, and nearly all speaking English. The Indians 
in New Caledonia are under the teaching of the Romish 
priests, who also visit the Fur Company's forts, and baptize 
the children of Protestants. They try to entrap the English 
half-breeds, refusing to marry them unless they are rebaptized 
into the Romish faith." 

Mr. Bompas had up to this point travelled over 3000 miles 
from Fort Youcon. Only in this manner can the Gospel be 
conveyed to the little bands of Indians sparsely scattered over 
the vast extent of country. These Indians are subjects of our 



73 



Day spring in the Far West. 



Queen, and as such have a claim upon us, which cannot be 
set aside. 

We have now surveyed the network of Missions which 
extends over the whole British territory, from Red River to the 
Polar Sea, and from Hudson's Bay to the Rocky Mountains. 
When it is borne in mind that there are in this vast field 
only ten European Missionaries and nine ordained natives 
of the country, varied feelings of astonishment, admiration 
and gratitude fill the mind. Astonishment at the large 
amount of work accomplished by this handful of labourers, 
admiration of the zeal, energy, and devotion of these excellent 
men, of whom it may in truth be said, that they count not 
their lives dear unto them, if only they may preach Christ to 
souls perishing for lack of knowledge; and gratitude, deep 
gratitude to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that 
He has put it into the hearts of English Christians to send the 
Gospel to these distant lands, and raised up men admirably 
fitted to carry out this labour of love ; men of varied talents 
and acquirements and powers of endurance, each fitting into 
his exact sphere, and with noble self-denial consecrating every 
power and talent to the service of his Lord. Other feelings 
also find a place in our hearts, feelings of humiliation, for 
though the work accomplished is great in proportion to the 
number of workers, the question arises, how is it that the 
labourers are so few in a land from which England has for 
centuries drawn a vast amount of wealth ? Let us picture to 
ourselves what our own country would be, if there were only 
nineteen clergymen scattered throughout the land. Have 
those who have been enriched by the fur trade contributed 
any adequate portion of the wealth which God has given them 



Mr. Bompas Journeys hi the Far North. 79 



towards sending the Gospel to the Red Indian, through whose 
agency they obtain this article of traffic ? Have English 
women of gentle birth, with tender loving hearts, possessing 
bright and happy homes of their own, ever thought as they 
clothed themselves in luxurious furs, of the sad condition of 
the families of the poor savage hunters in the wilds of America ? 
These are questions which we are not able to answer ; but we 
would fain hope they may find an echo in the hearts of some, 
who awakening to a sense of their responsibilities, w T ill hasten to 
share the privilege and honour of ministering to the Lord of 
their substance, by helping to send labourers into this portion 
of His vineyard. 

" Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, 
ye did it unto Me," will be the gracious words of recompense 
which will thrill w r ith joy the heart of the faithful steward of 
his Lord's bounty in the last great day. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE ESQUIMAUX OF THE MACKENZIE. 

Mr. Bompas visits the Esquimaux. — Their appearance, dress, manners, 
boats, canoes, dwellings. — Hospitality. — Religious ideas. 

N a previous chapter, allusion was made to the 
itinerating work of Mr. Bompas. We must now 
ask our readers to accompany us to the mouth 
of the Mackenzie River, where, in the spring of 
1870, Mr. Bompas took up for a time his abode amongst the 
Esquimaux. While reading the following account, the reader 
must picture the Missionary squatted on a polar bear-skin, 
with a deer-skin for a desk, with the Esquimaux seated 
around him pursuing their various avocations. 

"This race of Esquimaux inhabit the coast of the Arctic Sea, 
at the north of the Great River Mackenzie. In the spring and 
fall they ascend the river in their skin boats for about 200 
miles, and trade fox and bear-skins for tobacco, iron, kettles, 
&c, at the nearest port of the Hudson's Bay Company, 
on Peel's River. The men are tall and powerful, some more 
than six feet, the average stature exceeding, I think, that in 
England. The women are smaller, probably about the average 
stature of English women. The complexion and features are 
not unlike the English. Several of the Esquimaux, both men 




The Esquimaux of the Mackenzie. S i 



and women, had I met them at home in European costume, I 
should hardly have taken for foreigners. Others, again, have 
a more distinguishing cast of countenance. The men's hair is 
cut short across the forehead. The face is square, forehead 
prominent, eyebrows horizontal, nose straight, mouth large. 
Some have a short beard, but most are without it. They have 
a circular tonsure on the top of the head, similar to that of 
Romish priests, and the men wear bones through their cheeks, 
intended for ornament. A hole is bored through each cheek, 
near the lower lip, as soon as a youth approaches manhood, 
and through this is thrust a large button of ivory (walrus 
tusk), and the ambition of an Esquimaux is to have fixed to 
this white button half a blue bead of the size of a man's finger 
end. To possess one of these glass beads, which I suppose 
could be had in England for a penny, they are willing to give 
two black fox skins, each of which might sell in England for 
^"50. To drive this advantageous bargain, they are obliged 
to convey their furs many hundred miles along the coast 
westward towards Behring's Straits, where other tribes of 
Esquimaux are visited by American trading-vessels from the 
Pacific. This cheek ornament, called " totuke," is of course a 
great disfigurement. It enlarges the mouth, and causes 
inconvenience to the wearer, both in speaking and eating. 
Such, however, are the demands of Esquimaux fashion. 

" The women also have a peculiar custom of wearing large 
bundles of hair on the top and sides of their head. It perhaps 
can hardly be properly called false hair, as it once probably 
had connexion with the head that carries it. But the present 
want of continuity is manifest, as the large bundles are often 
laid aside for a time at night. I presume that all the hair 

G 



82 



Day spring in the Far West. 



which ever grew on the head is carefully preserved and added 
to the stock, as it seems to increase with the age of the wearer. 
This is also an inconvenient and disfiguring custom, but 
probably the Esquimaux women would consider some of our 
home fashions more absurd. 

" The dress of the Esquimaux is handsome. It consists of 
shirt, coat, and trousers, usually of deer-skin, and fringed with 
the long hair of the wolf and wolverine. Their favourite head- 
dress is the skin of a wolverine's head, surrounded with blue 
beads, over which is worn the hood of the coat, with a wide 
fringe of wolf or wolverine hair. Their boots are of otter and 
seal-skin. The sheep and musk-rat also occasionally contri- 
bute their skins towards the clothing of an Esquimaux. 

"The clothes are, of course, made by the women, and, not- 
without considerable taste, ornamented with blue beads, of 
which they are very fond ; and strips of the white hair of the 
deer being sewn into the brown by way of braiding. The coat 
is shaped like a shirt. Sometimes the hair is turned inside, 
towards the skin of the wearer, and this affords greater 
warmth. The animal's skin, which is thus turned outside, is 
then dressed so as to be quite white, and when well beaded, 
makes a showy appearance. The dress of the women is very 
similar to that of the men, the coat and trousers of the same 
material, the chief difference being in the shape of the hood, 
which, in the case of the women, is made larger, to enclose 
their extra store of hair, and thus better protect their face. 
The women also wear no boots, but the trousers and shoes are 
all in one. 

" The Esquimaux is seldom seen without a large butchers 
knife in his hand, which, in case of a quarrel, he unhappily 




ESQUIMAUX MAX AND WOMAN. 




ESQUIMAUX CHIEF. 



The Esquimaux of the Mackenzie. 



83 



uses too often to stab his neighbour. His weapon for hunting 
on land is the bow, as guns have not yet come into much use 
among them. On the water, fish-spears, of various construction, 
are his constant companions. 

u In making his weapons the Esquimaux shows considerable 
ingenuity. Out of any old iron which he is able to obtain, 
such as saws, files, &c, he will forge variously shaped knives, 
gimlets, and other tools, with which he constructs his boats 
and canoes, as well as arrows, bows, spears, fishing-hooks, 
nets, and tackle, sledges, and all other implements for the 
chase, as well as furniture for his tent. 

" The Esquimaux bow is very strong, and its elasticity is 
increased by being backed with lines of twisted sinew. The 
arrows are well made and feathered, headed with bone or iron, 
according to the game intended to be shot. The fish-hooks 
are generally of bone, and sometimes baited as at home ; but 
for some fish no bait is used at all. The shank of the hook 
of white bone is carved into the shape of a small fish, and is 
thus mistaken for a bait. It is armed with a small iron barb, 
which secures the prey. The fish spears are pointed with iron, 
and lie on the outside of their canoes. One spear with three 
prongs, like a hay-fork, or trident, is used for hunting musk- 
rats in the river, and is thrown from the canoe, out of a wooden 
handle or rest. The fishing-lines, and even nets, are often 
made of whalebone, as also are partridge snares, &c. In fact 
whalebone is used chiefly for tying and fastening the canoe 
frames, spear-heads, &c; the only other kind of line they have, 
made of twisted sinew, being not well fitted for use in the 
water. Whalebone seems a strange material to form into 
fishing-nets ; but it is split thin, and cleverly netted to the 

G 2 



8 4 



Day spring in the Far West. 



length of several yards, and about one yard in width. The 
other lines made of sinew are very neatly plaited to the length 
of a hundred yards or more, forming a very fine strong cord 
used for fishing-nets, bow-springs, and various purposes. 

" The construction of boats or canoes is part of an Esquimaux's 
employment in spring. The boat or canoe frame is first made 
out of a log of drift wood, split up by means of bone wedges 
into the required lengths. Each is carefully shaped, smoothed, 
and finished by what are called in this country crooked knives, 
that is a knife with the blade slightly bent, and used for shaving 
wood instead of a smoothing plane. The canoe is then covered 
with otter skin. The shape of an Esquimaux canoe is well 
known. It is about twelve feet long, and is entirely covered 
with otter skins, except the small hole in the centre, in which 
the Esquimaux sits with his double and single paddles, and 
spears laid carefully in ivory fittings on the outside of every 
canoe. The boat is from twenty to thirty feet long, and 
covered with seal-skin, which is very strong, and forms a most 
serviceable vessel. The wooden framework, on which the skin 
is stretched, appears slight, but is securely fastened. This 
boat is propelled by two oars, and when the wind is favourable, 
by a sail. As the men travel generally in their canoes for the 
sake of hunting, it is chiefly the women and children who 
remain in the boat, which conveys the tents, furniture, utensils, 
&c. As the women row but very leisurely, the progress 
is rather slow, but the men are employed in hunting, and time 
is often of much importance to an Esquimaux. 

" The dwellings of the Esquimaux consist in winter of snow 
houses built on the ice, in summer of deer-skin tents, and in 
the autumn or fall of wooden huts, partly under-ground, and 



The Esquimaux of the Mackenzie, 



85 



covered with earth. The chief home of the Esquimaux is on 
the ice. Here he passes at least half the year, and it is to this 
that his habits are chiefly adapted. 

" In building his snow house he shows a wonderful readiness, 
which I can compare to nothing but the skill of a bee in 
making its honeycomb. In the Esquimaux country the fallen 
snow, on the wide river mouths, after being driven by the wind 
becomes caked or frozen so as to have considerable tenacity, 
and at the same time it can be readily cut with the knife. The 
Esquimaux then, with his butcher's knife, cuts out square 
blocks of this frozen snow, as it lies on the surface of the river, 
of the size of ordinary blocks of stone masonry, and with these 
he builds a house perfectly circular, of the shape of a bee-hive. 
With no tool but the knife, which is used as a trowel, he works 
with surprising rapidity, and the whole is arched over without 
any support from beneath, except perhaps a single pole 
during the construction. Any architect or mason at home 
would, I suppose, be astonished to witness the work, and 
might fail in imitating it, for without line, or plummet and 
square, or measurement, the circular span and arch is exactly 
preserved, and the whole finished in the space of a single hour. 
The snowy material is so beautiful that the work proceeds as 
if by magic, the snow forming stone and mortar both in one; 
for each block when laid on its neighbour, adheres and freezes 
to it, so as to form one solid mass, while the least touch of the 
knife shapes it, and removes any superfluous juttings. The 
weight of a single building block is just such as a man can 
readily lift. In building the walls of the house the work is 
simple, but in arching over the roof, it would seem impossible 
to proceed without support or framework below. In fact, 



86 Day spring in the Far West. 



however, a single staff only is placed under a block, added to 
the roof just until the next block is placed in juxta-position. 
The adherence of the two blocks is then sufficient to prevent 
any danger of falling, the staff is removed, and the same thing 
repeated with the ensuing block, until the whole is completed 
by working the tiers of snow spirally. 

(t An Esquimaux travelling in winter builds a small snow 
house every night for his lodging, but when encamped for any 
length of time, he makes one of considerable dimension. One 
in which I lodged was about twelve or fourteen feet in diame- 
ter, and about nine feet high in the centre from the level of 
the ice. Half the interior is occupied by the bed, which is 
raised about three feet from the ice or snow, covered with 
boards, on which are laid ample deer-skin rugs for bedding ; 
over these again are deer-skin blankets for covering. Oppo- 
site the bed is the small low entrance, shaped like that into a 
dog kennel, through which you have to creep on all fours. 
This at night is covered up with a block of snow. On each 
side of the entrance (inside) is a shelf of snow, of the same 
height as the bed, on which is placed a large black wooden 
dish or trough, forming the lamp. A little moss along the 
side of this dish forms the lamp wick, fed by grease, which is 
constantly replenished from small lumps of fat hung over the 
flame, and which drop grease into the dish. It seems a 
strange anomaly that the coldest inhabited country should be 
that in which fires are considered superfluous. The heat given 
out by the lamps is certainly considerable, but still the camps 
are cold. The temperature must of course be constantly 
below freezing-point, or the snow would melt. The Esqui- 
maux, however, do not feel the cold as we do. Their hands 



The Esquimaux of the Mackenzie, 



87 



and face are of a more plump and fleshy form than ours, and 
the circulation of their blood is warmer, for their hands feel 
quite hot to the touch while sitting, without exercise, in their 
freezing camps. An Esquimaux's chief resource against the 
cold is the amount of fuel he consumes internally in the form 
of whale and seal fat used as food ; and the provision of these 
large animals in the Polar Sea for the use of these few scattered 
savages, is a remarkable proof of God's providential care over 
the meanest of His creatures. 

" The Esquimaux generally cook meat or fish twice a day, 
once at noon, and again the last thing before sleeping at night. 
If hungry at other times, he will eat a fish or piece of raw 
meat that is frozen, and this is not so disgusting as one might 
suppose, for the effect of freezing meat or fish is sometimes 
the same as cooking it, that is to harden the fibre, and dry up 
the superfluous moisture. Even Europeans in this country 
sometimes eat a piece of frozen fish uncooked, and find it good 
and wholesome. 

" When an Esquimaux visits a neighbour's house, before he 
has been sitting long, food is always offered him — generally 
a frozen fish which he eats with much relish. Sometimes it 
is a small piece of frozen deer's meat, or as a great delicacy, a 
lump of whale or seal fat. If he happens to come in at the 
time of cooking, a portion of what is cooked is set before him. 
This seems to be the rule of Esquimaux hospitality. As 
soon as the spring thaw sets in about the middle of May, the 
Esquimaux exchanges his snow house for a deer-skin tent or 
lodge, with which he soon after removes to the river bank, 
where he lives by fishing or hunting deer, before proceeding 
to the sea for the sea-whale fishery. In the fall of the year, 



88 Day spring in the Far West. 



the cold sets in early, and the deer-skin tent becomes uncom- 
fortable, before the ice and snow are thick and hard enough 
for building snow houses. At this time the Esquimaux 
build or rather excavate huts in the river bank, which they 
ceil over with logs and earth. They close up at night the 
small entrance with skins, and rely for light and warmth 
chiefly on their lamps. A small window of thin skin or parch- 
ment is made in the roof; but as the short days of December 
approach, the sun hardly shows itself, and daylight is but 
scanty. In the snow house a block of clear ice inserted in the 
front forms a beautiful window, and as spring approaches, and 
the daylight is perpetual, a cheerful contrast is presented to 
the constant gloom and darkness of an Arctic winter. 

" This is a country of contrast. In winter the gloom is such 
that daylight seems a passing stranger. In spring the glare is 
so great that the eye is sore and inflamed, if not blinded by it. 
In winter the thermometer will stand about ioo° below freezing 
point, and in summer, in the sun, at least ioo° above it. 

" An Esquimaux travelling with his family and effects affords 
quite an exciting display. About a dozen sledges or trucks 
are harnessed together, and on these are laid a very miscella- 
neous assortment of property and provision. Boat frames, 
canoes, tents, tent-poles, and boards, deer-skin bedding, 
several whole deer carcases, some hundreds of frozen fish 
pressed into a solid mass, tent furniture, utensils, clothes, 
fishing-nets, and implements, with many other seemingly 
needless stores, are all laden promiscuously on the train, which 
is propelled by men, women, and dogs, all hauling lines along 
the sides of the sledges, and assisted when the wind is 
favourable by a sail. 



The Esquimaux of the Mackenzie. 



89 



The arrival of a large number of such sledge trains at camp 
one after another, is like so many railway trains coming in, for 
the runnels of the sledges are covered first with bone, and 
this again is carefully coated with ice, so that the sledges run 
on the frozen snow like trucks on a railway. The sledge 
train, which I assisted in drawing myself, consisted, I believe, 
of fourteen trucks, hauled by four men and boys, three women 
and five dogs. More than a dozen such trains reached the 
camp at which I was staying. In spring, the sledges are all 
stowed away on the river bank, and the boat forms the means 
of conveying the Esquimaux's effects during the summer 
months. 

" Considering the smallness of the number of the Esquimaux 
band we have been describing, and that no others are to be 
found within about 100 miles, a wonderful provision has 
indeed been made by God's good providence for their 
sustenance. This bounty seems intended on purpose to 
banish the thought that these distant wanderers, condemned 
to such severity of climate, are outcasts from the Divine care. 
In fact, both the power and goodness of God are, in some 
respect, shown in this country more specially than in others ; 
for which sometimes we are constrained to say, on seeing the 
vast expanse of snow, and the thickness of the ice, ' Who can 
stand before His cold V Yet the greater is the marvel when 
' He sendeth forth His word, and melteth them : He causeth 
His wind to blow, and the waters flow.' The Esquimaux 
know not how to thank their Heavenly Father, who gives them 
their daily supply of food, and though they have heard with 
gladness and thankfulness the short story of Gospel truth, 
which alone I have been able as yet to communicate to them, 



90 



Day spring in the Far West, 



yet it requires the same mighty power, which melts their 
Arctic snows, and thaws their frozen ocean, \ to turn them 
from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto 
God.' 

" With respect to the character and habits of the Esquimaux, 
it is best to speak reservedly. They are certainly kind and 
hospitable, civil and obliging, skilful and clever in handicraft. 
I fear it must be added that they are liable to fits of passion 
and sulkiness, that they are lazy and sleepy, and addicted 
to lying, stealing, and even stabbing. Over their other 
shortcomings it is best to draw a veil. 

" They practise heathen dances, songs, and conjuring, and 
this seems to be the greater part of their religion, They 
possess, most of them, in a bag, a collection of small miscella- 
neous articles, w T hich are intended, I suppose, beneficially to 
influence their hunting, by way of spells and charms. Beyond 
this I cannot find that they have much religion among them. 
They know of an evil spirit named Atti, which seems to 
symbolize cold and death, and which they seek to exorcise or 
appease by their charms and spells. 

" Their only idea of a good spirit is connected with the sun 
as a source of warmth and life ; and considering the severity 
of their climate, it is not wonderful that their natural religion 
should symbolize the powers of good and evil by warmth and 
cold. If they have an idea of heaven, it is of a perpetual 
spring ; and the name they give to the ministers who bring 
them tidings of the world above, is, ' Children of the sun/ 
I have not found they have any knowledge of a future life. 
They say the old Esquimaux used to know these things, but 
the young ones have forgotten them. They possess, however, 



The Esquimaux of the Mackenzie. 



9i 



a tradition of the Creation, and of the descent of mankind from 
a single pair. 

" With regard to the evangelization of these Esquimaux, and 
the introduction of true religion among them, I should think 
the best hope would be to bring a Christian Esquimaux hither 
from Labrador. The difficult work of mastering the language 
and reaching the minds of these bewildered heathen has been 
all gone through by the Moravian Missionaries in Labrador 
and Greenland, in the course of many years' labour, and it 
seems a pity that with the same race, the same work should 
be begun again, independently, in another part of the country, 
without any assistance from the toils of those who have gone 
before. The language, as spoken here, is indeed a different 
dialect from that of Labrador, but at least half the words 
seem to be the same, or nearly so. A native of Labrador, 
brought to this country, would probably be able to converse 
fluently with the natives in the course of a few months, and 
might be able in that time to give them a better knowledge of 
Christianity than a European Missionary could do in as many 
years. A native of Labrador was once brought here in con- 
nexion with the exploring expedition, but returned again. Two 
others were also sent for by the Fur Trading Company to 
act as interpreters, but turned back after coming half way. I 
should be glad if communication were held with the Moravian 
Society on this subject. The best mode of bringing it about 
would be for a Christian native of Labrador, to be brought to 
England in the Moravian [Missionary ship, and then to place 
him in the Hudson's Bay Company's ship to come to York 
Factory." 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE ESQUIMAUX OF THE MACKENZIE— CONTINUED. 

The future of the Esquimaux. — Smoking. — J ood. — Progress. — Language. — 
The Country. — The visit of Mr. Bompas. — His kind reception. — 
Return to Peel's River Fort. 

E continue Mr. Bompas' account of the Esqui- 
maux :— 

"I cannot but suppose that before long commerce 
and civilization will come into closer contact with 
these natives. It is surely intended that this fine river, 
one of the largest in the world, should in God's providence 
be ere long opened for navigation and trade. A project for 
this purpose is, I believe, entertained by the English for a 
Company, and also by the Americans. 

" The Mackenzie was once ascended from its mouth by the 
boats of an English exploring ship. The coast is, I believe, 
free from ice, and open to navigation to the westward from 
Behring's Straits during the summer months, and American 
vessels already trade with the Western Esquimaux. In fact 
I see here tobacco, knives, beads, kettles, obtained from the 
Americans, which these Esquimaux have traded along the 
coast from the more western natives. Two men of this band 
have started along the coast to the west this present winter 




The Esquimaux of the Mackenzie. 



93 



with a parcel of furs, intending to return next winter with 
more. 

rt The opening of this coast to civilized trade would be a 
matter of congratulation, and must in the end prove in God's 
good providence a blessing. At the same time, w T e cannot 
but foresee evils connected with it. Our own countrymen do 
not always, alas ! set the best example of morality in these 
distant lands, and the natives are very quick in learning to 
imitate what they see the white man do, especially what is 
evil, however slow they may be in receiving the oral instruc- 
tion of the preacher. 

" In the American trade, too, unhappily the first article 
introduced is generally spirits, and this would, I fear, soon 
prove the ruin of most of the Esquimaux, and make it 
dangerous or impossible to reside among them. If the 
trade were watched by Government, and the importation of 
spirituous liquors legally prevented, I suppose a fair and 
profitable traffic might be carried on in seal and otter skins, 
walrus tusks, furs, whalebone, and oil. The articles which 
the Esquimaux most desire in exchange for these commo- 
dities are tobacco and beads, but more useful wares would 
be twine for nets and fishing-lines, hooks, coarse cotton or 
canvas for sails and tents, blankets, guns, ammunition, kettles, 
axes, adzes, carpenters' tools, knives, scissors, needles, saws, 
pots, spoons, files, and skewers for arrow and spear heads. 

" These natives have unhappily become enslaved to the habit 
of tobacco smoking, until it has become with them an all- 
absorbing passion. As their mode of using tobacco is to 
swallow the smoke, it resembles the use of opium more than 
the European use of tobacco. A few whiffs of the Esquimaux 



94 



Day spring in the Far West. 



pipe produce a temporary stupor or intoxication, causing 
him sometimes to fall to the ground, and generally followed 
by a severe fit of coughing. Such smoking must certainly 
be deleterious to the constitution. The Esquimaux's next 
luxury after smoking is the eating of whale or seal fat. The 
fat of the whale resembles fat bacon, and I did not find in it 
any nauseous taste. The food of the Esquimaux besides 
consists of all the animals killed by him, whether on land or 
water. Besides this, he finds edible roots in spring, and 
ground berries in summer, and generally speaking is well 
supplied with provision. The course of his yearly travels is 
to ascend the Mackenzie River in spring, that is in June, on 
the breaking up of the ice, to trade at the European establish- 
ment, about 200 miles from the sea. After this, he returns 
to the river-mouth and hunts seals at two different points. At 
the last point he lays by a store of seals' meat for the ensuing 
winter. He then proceeds five days' journey along the sea 
coast to the eastward, to hunt the whale. The spoils of this 
hunt he brings back to add to his store, and then spends the 
autumn or fall of the year in fishing and hunting, some of the 
tribe again mounting the river to visit the English post. As 
soon as winter is fairly set in, the tribes retire to their stores 
or caches of provisions at the rivers mouth, where they live 
in their snow houses till the return of spring. As soon as 
the weather is mild, and their stores are diminished, they 
begin to mount the river with sledges, and then spend the 
time in fishing and snaring partridges until the breaking up 
of the ice. 

" As the water in the river rises in the spring, streams of 
water appear at each bank before the main body of ice gives 



The Esquimaux of the Mackenzie. 95 



way. The Esquimaux commence at this time their travels 
by boats and canoes, hauling them from time to time over 
intervening strips of ice. At such times it is pleasant enough 
to travel with them, and amusing to see the miscellaneous 
stores which constitute an Esquimaux's effects, and which are 
transferred from boat to sledge, and from sledge to boat ; 
at one time the boats travelling on the sledges upon the ice, 
and again the sledges travelling in the boats on the water. 

" The condition of this tribe has certainly improved since 
the English have furnished them with iron. Formerly they 
had only bone axes, weapons, and tools, and made fire by the 
friction of wood only. A piece of stick, passed through a 
hole in a board, was made to revolve so rapidly by means of 
a piece of string twisted round it, as to ignite charcoal or 
touchwood through the heat caused by the friction. I have 
not, however, seen this instrument ; but I have seen a piece 
of iron ore which was obtained by them from a distance, and 
prized by them for striking a light when they had no better 
means of doing so. The number of this tribe seems to be 
diminishing, and there are but few old men and few children 
among them. At the same time their health appears good, 
with the exception of sores, which would probably be removed 
by the use of soap. 

"A Missionary may well visit the tribe on the coast during 
the summer to instruct them in religion, and he would also 
have an opportunity of seeing them when they visit the 
European post in spring and fall ; this would probably 
suffice for the instruction of this small band. A residence 
with them in winter would be attended with considerable 
hardship. With regard to other tribes, more difficulty arises. 



96 Day spring in the Far West. 



There are other bands of Esquimaux to the east at intervals, 
for I suppose the whole distance between this and Labrador. 
Some live on islands in the Arctic Sea, and others again to the 
west. The evangelization of these by a European would be 
attended with great difficulty ; but if a native agent could be 
introduced from Greenland or Labrador, the work would be 
rendered comparatively easy. 

" The Esquimaux language is difficult, the words are long, 
and the grammar complicated. The structure of the Esqui- 
maux tongue appears somewhat to resemble the Cree. 

" They express great willingness to be taught, and they have 
received the little instruction I have been able to give with 
great thankfulness. At the same time their ignorance and 
carelessness are so great, that they seem quite unable to 
apprehend at present the solemnities of religion. Smoking 
seems to be the object of their lives. 

" If a Mission station could be established among them, they 
would probably learn much more by what they saw than by 
mere preaching, and through the power of imitation, might 
become more assimilated to civilized life. At present, however, 
there are no means of establishing a Mission station, or intro- 
ducing supplies for its support. 

" There are but few features by which to describe the country. 
The coast is bare of trees ; only small bushes of willow are 
interspersed among the bare hills. The mouth of the 
Mackenzie is covered with drift wood ; a spur of the rocky 
mountains extends down to the coast. The estuary of the 
river is broken into numerous streams, in one or two only of 
which there is a deep channel. As you recede from the sea, 
the pines begin to appear, at first stunted in growth, and 



The Esquimaux of the Mackenzie. 



97 



gradually increasing, until, about fifty miles from the coast, 
the thick pine woods begin, which stretch uninterruptedly 
for thousands of miles, even from the Pacific to the Atlantic. 
The winds from the Arctic Sea, even in spring time, are very 
sharp and cutting, and in the depth of winter the cold must 
be very severe. 

" The individuals who are most respected among the Esqui- 
maux are the best hunters who make the most meat, for this 
they share more or less with their neighbours, There are 
acknowledged chiefs among them, whose office is hereditary. 
They have not much authority, except that they manage to 
get most of the tobacco trade into their own hands by buying 
up the furs of the other Esquimaux. 

" The story of my visit to the Esquimaux is soon told. I 
left Peels River on the 18th of April, in company with 
two Esquimaux, and hauling a sledge with blankets and 
provisions. We camped at night on the river bank, making 
a small camp-fire of boughs* After three days' walking in the 
glare of the spring sun, I was attacked with snow blindness, 
and walked most of the two following days with my eyes 
shut, holding the Esquimaux boy by the hand. Both the 
Esquimaux were very kind and attentive to me, and did all 
for me that I could wish. We walked about twenty-five miles 
a-day. Our sixth day from the Fort we reached the first 
Esquimaux camp, and I slept for the first time in a snow 
house, enjoying as good a night's rest as I could wish on the 
deer-skins. The next day, which was Sunday, we spent in 
this camp. I endeavoured to convey w T hat instruction I could 
to our host and his family. After remaining quiet all day in 
the snow house, I was thankful to recover my sight ; we 

H 



98 Day spring in the Far West. 



started again at night, and the next afternoon reached two 
more snow houses, where we were again hospitably received 
and lodged. I was cordially invited to sleep in one of the 
houses, and, being tired, soon lay down to do so, but was 
immediately disturbed by yelling and dancing on the very 
spot where I was lying. This I found was caused by an old 
woman " making medicine," that is conjuring in order to cure 
a man w r ho was, or thought himself, sick. The person con- 
juring throws himself into violent convulsions, and pretends to 
be under the influence of some evil spirit. This medicine 
maker is regarded with great awe by the bystanders, and I 
was entreated not to disturb her. However, I told them that 
the medicine-making was all a wicked lie, and betook myself 
at once to the next camp, where I lay down and enjoyed a 
good night's rest. 

" The next day, all I could find wrong with the man who was 
the object of the conjuring proved to be a sore head, for which 
I gave him a small piece of soap, and a few grains of alum 
to rub it with. Next time I saw him, I was told that my 
conjuring was very strong. The same day we started again, 
and in two or three hours reached four more Esquimaux 
camps, or snow houses, in the largest of which I took up my 
abode, and it proved to be the one in which was most food. 
I was most amply and hospitably supplied with provision, to 
which all the Esquimaux contributed a small share. This 
proved to be the furthest point in my journey. My ap- 
pearance in each camp excited a deal of observation and 
curiosity, as the Esquimaux had never had a European residing 
among them in the same way before. After a few days a 
large number of Esquimaux arrived from near the sea coast, 



The Esquimaux of the Mackenzie. 



99 



and built their snow houses close by. For the following two 
or three weeks I was therefore fully engaged in visiting the 
different camps, and conveying what instruction I could to 
the inmates. On the arrival of the Esquimaux chief I was 
invited to remove to his camp, which I did, and he con- 
tinued from that time to entertain and feed me with great 
kindness and cordiality. I was most agreeably surprised to 
receive such kind attention, and what I must call gentlemanly 
consideration from those who are in other respects so ignorant 
and rude. 

" I might mention that my visit to the Esquimaux was 
occasioned by an invitation from some of them ; but on my 
way I received a message from the chief that I had better 
defer my visit till the summer, as the Esquimaux were 
starving and quarrelling, and one had just been stabbed and 
killed in a dispute about some tobacco. This made me the 
more pleased to be so received among them. 

" The point where we were encamped was in the estuary of 
the Mackenzie, about thirty miles from the Arctic Sea, and 
when the sun set, in the north there appeared a bright rim of 
light along the horizon, which was, I suppose, the reflection of 
the polar ice. 

" I saw no anger, nor breach of good-will among the Esqui- 
maux while I was with them, but all seemed to be living in 
brotherly affection and friendship. After remaining with them 
about three weeks, the chief with whom I was staying re- 
moved with his brother and their camps to the distance 
of a few miles from the other Esquimaux, in order to hunt 
partridges. I was still able, however, to visit all the 
camps. 

H 2 



IOO 



Day spring in the Far West. 



" On the 7th of May, the first of the spring birds were seen. 
These were swans. On the 12th we saw the first overflow of 
water on the banks of the river, and on the 16th of May the 
thaw set in. On the 21st, after we had remained in our new 
camp rather more than a week, we left the ice with thank- 
fulness, and took to the boats, proceeding up the river on the 
narrow strip of water which now appeared between the ice and 
the shore. Most of the winter sledges were now taken to 
pieces and left behind on the shore, but three were taken on 
in each boat for transporting the boats and their contents from 
water to water, where ice intervened. 

" We left the other Esquimaux, who were a few miles lower 
down the river, still encamped on the ice, as the water had 
not yet reached them. They were not, I suppose, able to 
leave for some time, as the weather turned cold again two or 
three days after we left, and the water on which we had 
travelled became again frozen, and so continued, more or less, 
for some days. All the Esquimaux, however, as the thaw 
began, left their snow houses, which were becoming wet from 
the melting snow, and pitched their deer skin-tents on the 
ice. 

" After proceeding up the river with boat and canoe for three 
days, we reached the fishing-ground, where we again en- 
camped, to await the breaking up of the ice on the Mackenzie, 
as it was not safe to proceed further up the river till this 
occurred. At once, on reaching the fishery, they set their 
hooks and nets, and we were immediately well supplied with 
fresh provisions from the water, proving an agreeable change 
of food, and affording abundant cause of thankfulness to our 
Heavenly Father who thus supplied our daily wants. Being 



The Esquimaux of the Mackenzie. 101 



now only three camps together, and having therefore more 
leisure time, I have written this account, which, however 
imperfect a description it may be of Esquimaux life, has at 
least the advantage of being a sketch from nature. It is 
written by the camp-fire under the open sky, with the 
Esquimaux all sitting round and working at their canoes, 
nets, fishing-lines, bows and arrows, and with their inquisitive 
faces thrust over my paper, or against my side, with the 
constantly repeated question as to what I am writing 
about. 

" As I write, the ducks and geese are flying backwards and 
forwards by hundreds over head, and the fish are constantly 
brought in from the river. As it is near this spot that the 
Esquimaux wish a trading-post to be established for their 
benefit by the Fur Company, I am glad to visit the spot, and 
shall be disposed to report favourably of the position, and to 
second the wish of the Esquimaux that a post should be 
established for them, as it would facilitate Missionary opera- 
tions for their instruction. As the Esquimaux tents are small 
and well filled, I have found it best since the thaw began to 
camp by myself outside, and the more so as they keep in 
spring time rather strange hours, mostly going to bed after 
midnight, and not rising till past noon, and some remaining 
up all night, and then sleeping the greater part of the following 
day. It is true that there is now but little difference between 
day and night, as the sun hardly sets, and as it is generally 
cloudy, and I thought it most prudent to come without my 
watch, it is not always easy to know what time of day or night 
it is. Notwithstanding this, we who have be en used to home life 
seem to wish to observe the distinction between day and night 



102 



Day spring in the Far West. 



as far as possible, even though it be a distinction without a 

difference. 

" The Esquimaux sleep in their tents between their deer- 
skins all together in a row, extending the whole breadth of 
the tent, and if there are more than enough for one row, they 
commence a second at the foot of the bed, with the head 
turned the other way. For myself, I always took care to 
commence this second row, keeping to the extremity of the 
tent, and thus generally rested without inconvenience, except, 
perhaps, a foot thrust occasionally into my side. At the 
same time it must be confessed that the Esquimaux are rather 
noisy, often talking or singing a great part of the night, 
especially the boys, and if any extra visitors arrive, so that 
the tent is over full, it is not exactly agreeable. 

" I have, however, now stayed with the Esquimaux in all 
their dwellings, for last fall I spent four nights with them in 
one of their wooden houses, and this spring I have lived for a 
month with them, partly in a snow house and partly in a deer- 
skin tent. I am glad to have done this, but should not wish 
to repeat it unless from necessity. 

"In case of visiting them again, I should endeavour to have 
a camp of my own, and in the summer time I could take my 
own tent with me, and if I could persuade the Esquimaux 
to respect its privacy, I might pass a pleasant time with 
them. 

" At present, camping by myself outside their tents, I am 
passing my time with them without any hardship or incon- 
venience. 

" The main ice on the Mackenzie broke up on the 8th of 
June, but the channel by which we were ascending still con- 



The Esquimattx of the Mackenzie. 1 03 



tinued blocked with ice till the 14th. After this date we were 
able to proceed on our voyage without further detention, and 
arrived safely, by God's help, at Peel's River Fort on the 1 8th 
of June, about midnight." 

Here we have a vivid picture of the toil gone through by a 
Missionary Pioneer, penetrating for the first time into unknown 
regions, and carrying the Gospel message to far-off tribes, 



CHAPTER X. 



RESULTS OF MISSIONARY TEACHING. 

Results of Missionary teaching, as exhibited in the hearts and lives of 
the Converts. — Obstacles in the way of Missionary progress. 

~"E have now seen that the small seed planted at Red 
River fifty years ago, has grown into a goodly tree, 
whose boughs overshadow the land. We have 
visited the Mission stations in the fertile basin of 
the Saskatchewan, (the swift-flowing river) around the sterile 
shores of Hudson's Bay, and the still more desolate coasts of 
the Polar Sea. We have seen scattered here and there little 
communities of Christian Indians gathered around the Mission 
station, dwelling in neat cottages, cultivating their little 
gardens and farms, neatly and comfortably clothed, diligent 
in their daily work, constant in their attendance in the house 
of God, reverently worshipping Him, and lifting up their well- 
tuned voices to the praise of Him who died to redeem them. 
We have now to show what effects the Gospel has produced 
in the hearts of these once degraded savages. u The fruit of 
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, good- 
ness, faith, meekness, temperance." We have abundant 
evidence to show that such fruits are produced by these 
dwellers in the wilderness, yet it is not a story of unmingled 




Results of Missionary Teaching. 105 



success ; there is a dark side as well as a bright side to the 
picture. The faithful minister of Christ often plaintively asks, 
like the prophet of old, " Who hath believed our report ? " 
while sometimes he mourns sadly over those who did run well, 
but who have turned from the holy commandment delivered 
unto them. Nor is this a new T or strange thing ; it was so in 
the days of the early Church. St. Paul wrote to the Galatian 
converts, "Ye did run well, who did hinder you, that ye 
should not obey the truth?" The angel was commissioned 
to write to the Church of Ephesus, " I have somewhat against 
thee, because thou hast left thy first love ;" and as it was then 
so it is now, so it will ever be till the time when the Lord shall 
come to claim the kingdoms for His own ; "the tares and the 
wheat must grow together till the harvest." But He who gave 
the command, " Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, bap- 
tizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy Ghost," has been faithful to His promise, " Lo, I am 
w T ith you alway, even unto the end of the world." His "word 
has not returned unto Him void ;" " Instead of the thorn has 
come up the fir-tree," and " instead of the briar has come up 
the myrtle-tree." 

A recent traveller in British North America relates the 
following incident : — " Every evening, as we proceeded down 
the Winnipeg, as soon as the necessary preparation had been 
made for passing the night, the whole party, in number seven- 
teen, and with three exceptions, all either pure Indians, or 
partly of Indian origin, assembled for prayers. Appropriate 
hymns were sung ; the Indians all joined ; and as night closed 
in, it had a strange effect in that unbroken wilderness, to hear 
the anthem rising above the din of the rushing torrents, and 



io6 



Day spring in the Far West. 



to see the children of the forest bent in prayer, where so lately 
they had been accustomed to invocations of another kind." 

At a meeting held in St. John's schoolroom in i860, where 
Bishop Anderson presided, Lord Southesk stated that in 
the Rocky Mountains he fell in with a party of Assini- 
boines who maintained family prayers ; they assembled at 
the sound of a bell, and engaged in singing and prayer. They 
asked his lordship for Christian instruction, and he left with 
them several passages of Scripture. These people had not 
seen a Missionary, but had obtained a knowledge of the 
Gospel, and of writing in syllabic characters from another 
Indian, who had been instructed by a Wesleyan Missionary 
many years before. 

It may here be mentioned that the great advantage of the 
syllabic characters is this, that the Indians learn to read them 
very quickly, and are then able to instruct others without the 
aid of a European. 

" A nice intelligent fellow," wrote the Rev. D. B. Hale, in 
1868, "called to-day to see me. He is most anxious for 
baptism. I asked, ' Why do you wish to be baptized ?' He 
replied, ' I have often heard the ministers tell us that Jesus 
Christ died for us, but I never thought that I was a sinner 
until a little while ago. Now I know I sin every day, but I 
know too that Jesus washes away my sin every day. I want 
to be baptized because I love Christ, and wish to join His 
church.' " 

Bishop Machray, who visited the Mission Stations 
on James Bay in 1868, received from a candidate for 
confirmation the following answers : — To his question, " What 
was promised for you at your baptism ? " " That I should 



Results of Missionary Teaching. 



107 



forsake all sin ; try to do what is right ; believe what is written, 
and conform myself to God's ways.'' " Can you keep these 
vows by yourself; " "No, I cannot do it. I try all I can, but 
sin is so very strong within me, that it often masters me." 
Another was asked " What has Jesus done for you ?" the reply 
was, " He came into this world to dispense that which is good. 
He died for me, and now intercedes for me." Another Indian, 
in reply to the same question, said, "I cannot tell you exactly 
as it is written ; for although I read it again and again, and 
hear it again and again, I find it snatched away from me, and 
I forget it ; but I know that Jesus died for my sins, and I 
know that if I ask Him, He will give me His Holy Spirit to 
make me holy." "When," says the Bishop, " the service of 
the Lord's Day was over, and the Communion Office finished 
for the second time that day, and the Indian converts were 
going away, many of whom had come to the Lord's Table for 
the first time, some few of them lingered behind to say still a 
few words. One of them, Thomas Chewapunash, said to me, 
as he held out his hand in farewell, " I was intending to go off 
before now, but I cannot leave until you go. 'My father is 
waiting for me up the river, but I know he will be very glad 
to know that I have seen you, and have been confirmed ; it 
will gladden his heart." A Matawakumme Indian said, " I 
try all I can to do what the book teaches me, although I 
know I fail a great deal sometimes ; and I try likewise to teach 
the Indians I come in contact with. I tell them the good 
things I have learnt out of the book.'' George, who is the 
eldest son of the old chief of this place, said, " Truly, truly, I 
am glad that you have come here, and that I have seen what 
has been done to day ; but still I feel a little afraid, because 



ioS 



Day spring in the Far West. 



I know I am so sinful, lest I should offend God, in whose 
hands I have placed myself to-day." 

u Another evening service in English, with a closing word of 
admonition, finished the services here. This will be a visit 
long to be remembered — a bright and cheering spot for the 
memory to return back upon. What a work God has been 
pleased to accomplish in this place. How sad were the hearts 
of these Indians when the light of the blessed and glorious 
Gospel of Christ was first made to shine upon them ! " 

At one of Mr. Horden's visits to Rupert's House,, four 
Indians acknowledged that they had put to death with their 
own hands, aged relatives, because they were an incumbrance. 
Now the Indians who have embraced the faith of Christ are 
as careful of their aged relatives as the civilized white man. 

The Rev. J. Horden, writing from Moose Fort in 1871, says, 
" My work here has now assumed quite a pastoral character ; 
heathenism, as a system, with all its abominations, has 
departed, and our difficulties are those of more settled 
communities. Our cry now is, i Awake thou that sleepest 
in the bed of indifference, formality, and all those things 
which deaden Christian life ; assume your responsibilities, 
enjoy your privileges/ " 

Again the effect of faith in the heart is manifested by these 
Christian Indians in the hour of death. The Rev. H. Budd, 
himself a firstfruit of the Indian people, writes from Cumber- 
land : — 

" I went to visit a poor woman who has been suffering 
a long time ; she suffers patiently and submissively. Asking 
her whom she trusted in, she replied, * None but the Saviour.' 
' Have you any fear of death ? ' 1 Not while the Saviour is 



Restclts of Missionary Teaching. 109 



with me.' 'What is the Saviour to you?' ' He is every- 
thing to me.' " 

" In one of the tents," writes Bishop Machray from Moose 
Fort, " I found an affecting instance of Christian resignation 
and cheerfulness amid long and heavy sufferings. The sick 
person was a woman of the name of Anne Checko. In reply 
to my remarks, she said, ' Truly, I have been a long time ill, 
and have suffered much ; but Christ has been my comfort. I 
look up to Him, and He gives me help ; were it not for that 
I should sometimes be very miserable.' " " I never forget Jesus, 
and He never forgets me;" said a sick and aged woman to 
Mr. Kirkby. " I am a poor unworthy creature, but Christ 
died for me," said another. A young man nineteen years of 
age was laid on a bed of death. " His pale and w r asted coun- 
tenance," said Mr. Kirkby, " beamed with joy and gladness as 
I entered the house. His Bible, some tracts, and another little 
book I had lent him, lay on the bed beside him. He had just 
read the 14th of St. John, which I explained. On asking him 
whether he did not feel a little uneasiness, or even discontent, 
in seeing his young companion going about full of life and 
activity, he replied at once, ' Not at all ; God has laid me here, 
and He does all things well. I just leave myself with Him. 
If He is pleased to keep me here, I am quite content to stay. 
If only He will save my poor soul, that is all I desire, or feel 
anxious about' Before I left him, he asked me with tearful 
emotion and simplicity whether I thought him worthy to par- 
take of the Lord's Supper, as he was so anxious to fulfil that, 
the last command of his Saviour. I assured him that the only 
qualification needed was to feel our sinfulness, and Christ's 
willingness to save — a desire to look out of self and to be found 



I 10 



Day spring in the Far West. 



in Him ; and as I had no doubt of these being his desires and 
feelings, I would gladly come down to administer it on 
Sunday." 

An aged man, whom Mr. Kirkby visited, on hearing his 
pastor's voice, asked his son to raise him up, that he might 
once more hear from his lips " how good Jesus had been to 
him." " Precious was the testimony," adds Mr. Kirkby, 
" which he bore to the power of the Redeemer's Grace, and 
the comforts of His love." 

These are only a few instances selecced out of many, many 
others. Multitudes have received the Gospel message into 
their hearts, and become new creatures in Christ Jesus. 
Archdeacon Cowley, writing from Red River in 1871, says, 
" Morally and spiritually the white man may learn lessons of 
wisdom from many a poor Christian Indian." 

Mr. Kirkby, describing his journey from Red River to York 
Fort in 1870, speaks thus of the boatmen : — " They were nice 
fellows the whole of them, and rough and hard as the work 
was, we never heard an unkind or angry word from one of 
them the whole way," (the distance was 800 miles, and took a 
month to accomplish,) "and no matter how tired they might 
be of an evening, they never thought of sleeping without first 
of all having their devotions. Try and picture the scene. 
We are on a lake, it may be the sun is shedding its beautiful 
tints on the placid water ; in a little bay, or beside a rocky 
islet, four boats are drawn up, four fires are smoking ; on 
one side a little canvas tent is pitched, and in front of it thirty- 
eight dark, sunburnt men are sitting on the ground. From 
the tent-door a hymn is announced, and then 'Hart's' ' Martyr- 
dom,' ' St. Bride's,' or the 1 Old Hundredth,' in which, with 



Results of Missionary Teaching, in 



their soft, musical voices, they all at once join and sing so 
sweetly. Then comes the chapter, after which all, with almost 
Eastern reverence, bow before God in prayer. And this they 
do morning and evening by themselves. Immediately after 
prayers we used to go into the tent, and the men each one 
took his own blanket and pillow, and lay down upon the 
ground, or the rock all about the tent, and slept as soundly as 
if in a bed and house. Of the Indians at York Fort,"' he goes 
on to say, " I cannot tell you much now, but what I have seen 
rejoices me much. There are about 100 adults here at present, 
all of whom seem to love the ordinances of Gods house. 
They all have their hymn-books, prayer-books, and Bibles, 
which they read well. I have prayers for them in the church 
every evening, and appoint one or other of three men (who are 
capable of doing it) to conduct the service, and give a short 
exposition of what they read, and they do it nicely. One old 
man kindles up as he goes along until he becomes warm and 
eloquent, both in words and thoughts. Last night the young 
man who offered the concluding prayer fairly sobbed and 
cried, until the little church became a Bochim. On Sundays 
we have the usual morning and evening service, the former at 
7 a.m., the latter at 3 p.m. ; and then, for the forty or fifty 
Europeans who are here, I have service in English at 1 1 a.m., 
and 7 p.m. But besides this place there are Churchill on the 
north, and Severn and Trout Lake to the south, also under 
my care, and these must be visited as often as I can go. At the 
former there are a good many Chipewyans and Esquimaux 
that I wish to see ; and the Indians of Trout Lake are thirst- 
ing for the Word. They have never yet been visited by a 
Missionary, and still they have managed, by the aid of a 



112 Day spring in the Far West. 



Christian Indian from Severn, to learn to read the Bible, and 
are daily holding simple religious service among themselves. 
Surely such faith and patience God will richly bless." 

"A Plain Cree on the Qu'Appelle," says Professor Hind, 
" once astonished me by producing a short notched stick, and 
after regarding it for a while, turning to one of the half-breeds, 
asked if the day was not Sunday. The seed sown often 
starts into life, after lying dormant for years, and produces a 
great variety of fruit. It is bread cast upon the waters, which 
shall be found after many days." 

From Devon, Mr. Budd writes in 1872 : — "I am thankful 
to be able to say, that if the Devon Indians are improving in 
their temporal condition, they are, I humbly trust, no less 
improving in their spiritual. If we may judge of the tree by 
its fruit, I witness enough to make me hope that they are 
growing in the Divine life, and increasing in the knowledge of 
our Lord and Saviour. An increasing thirst for the Word of 
God is manifest by their regular attendance on the preached 
Word ; their punctual attendance on all the means of grace ; 
as well by the labour and toil they will take in travelling so 
far in the cold and snow to be present at each returning Sacra- 
ment day. Christ Church tells that the population in Devon is 
growing ; it is sometimes full to overflowing. The regularity 
of the responses in the services, and the hearty singing, show 
that the congregation understand and value the services. I 
made a visit to the Pas Mountain Indians in October last. I 
have never had more encouragement from any set of heathen 
Indians since I have laboured among them for these thirty 
years. The Cumberland House Indians have begun to build 
houses for themselves like the Devon Indians. Here they 



Results of Missionary Teaching. 



"3 



assemble on Sundays, and as many of them can read in their 
own language, they have their books, both Prayer-book and 
the New Testament, and can hold regular services among 
themselves." 

From Matawakumme, Mr. Horden writes in 1872 : — "We 
have a church here neatly fitted up, and having everything in 
it for the proper and decent conduct of Divine service. There, 
day by day, during my visit of eleven days to the station, 
almost every individual at the place came to learn, to pray, 
to hear; and there is scarcely one person, with the exception of 
the old people, unable to read either in English or Indian. No 
less than twenty-three partook of the Communion, more than 
one-fifth of the whole population." Matawakumme, it will be 
remembered, is an out-station of Moose Factory, only visited 
from time to time by the Missionary. 

Yet, as we have intimated, there have been times of dark- 
ness and discouragement, when the heart of the Missionary 
has fainted within him. One of the chief drawbacks to 
Missionary work has been the sale, or exchange of intoxi- 
cating drinks by the traders for furs. " Drink," writes a 
Missionary, a has proved a stronger foe than idolatry." 
" Take away the fire-water," said an Indian, " and I will learn 
to pray." Happily, the sale or barter of intoxicating 
drinks is now strictly forbidden by Government in the 
Indian Reserves. Archdeacon Cowley thus writes from Red 
River: — " In our local parliament the whole land known as the 
Indian Reserve, except about two miles frontage, was re- 
affirmed, and set apart for the exclusive use of the poor 
natives of the country. This I view as a great and precious 
boon, absolutely indispensable to the Indian's welfare, if not 

I 



ii4 



Dayspring in the Far West. 



to his existence, in the presence of the foreigner. Another 
point, almost equally essential, was secured, viz. that no 
licence for the sale of intoxicating drinks should be granted 
on the land so reserved. In every other respect I wish the 
Christian Indian to be treated and held as other settlers ; 
and to this desire we hope to educate all our people who are 
not already up to the mark. Many are acting nobly, and it 
would be difficult for a stranger to decide where the half-breed 
element ends, and where the Indian begins. In both the 
school districts of the Indian settlement the people are taxed 
for the support of the schools, just as the settlers exterior to 
the Indian Reserve are by themselves, and the two schools are 
thrown open to the inspection of the superintendent of Protestant 
schools. Incorporation with foreigners seems to be the way in 
which God will preserve the Indian. That our people are 
educated up to the practicability of this upon equal terms, is 
due, under God, to the labours of the Church Missionary 
Society, introducing and sustaining among them the glorious 
Gospel of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 

The Indian Reserve, here mentioned, extends northwards 
along the banks of Red River, and is sufficiently extensive to 
allow 1 60 acres of land for each family of five persons. 

A formidable obstacle to the progress of the Gospel in North 
West America exists in the strenuous efforts made by the Roman 
Catholic priests to imbue the minds of the native population 
with Romish error, and so win them over to their church. 
This influence has been attended with some discouraging 
results in the Mackenzie River district. The Rev. W. D. 
Reeve, who succeeded Mr. Kirkby at Fort Simpson in 1869, 
has suffered much anxiety on this account. His position has 



Restdts of Missionary Teaching. 115 



been a peculiarly trying one. He is the single Protestant 
Missionary in a district in which there is a well organized band 
of Romish Missionaries, some of whom speak the language 
with fluency, while Mr. Reeve, until quite recently, has 
laboured under the disadvantage of having to acquire a 
difficult dialect, without the aid of an efficient instructor. 

At Fort Youcon, however, the Rev. Robert Macdonald has 
found much to encourage him, in the desire manifested by the 
Indians for instruction. Numbers of them have received it 
into their hearts, and testify their appreciation of its blessings 
by endeavouring to live according to its precepts. La Pierre's 
House, distant 600 miles from Fort Youcon, Peel River Fort, 
and Rampart House on the Porcupine, are also important 
Mission stations in this district. Mr. Macdonald itinerates from 
one to the other, collecting the Indians together at each, 
instructing them in the way of life, and seeking to build them 
up in the faith of a crucified Saviour. The steamers placed 
by the American Government on the Youcon and Porcupine 
enable him to reach these distant points with less fatigue and 
less loss of time than formerly, when the Missionary was 
dependent on his own means of locomotion. Mr. Macdonald 
is thus able to become better acquainted with the Tukuth 
people, and many and sad are the proofs with which he meets 
of the degraded state of these heathen tribes, and of the cruel 
bondage of sin and Satan under which they lie. 

Yet we despair not. The day has dawned on these far off 
lands. " The sun shines," was the exclamation of an Indian 
on entering for the first time a newly-erected house of God : 
truly, it already shines, and ere long the hills and valleys of 
these far-off lands shall be bathed in its noontide glory. 

I 2 



1 1 6 Day spring in the Far West. 



In our next chapter we shall ask our readers to accompany 
us to the village of Christian Indians at Metlakatlah, on the 
western side of the Rocky Mountains, where a work has been 
accomplished which has excited the astonishment and 
admiration of all who have seen it or heard of it. 

This Mission completes the zone of Missions with which 
the Church Missionary Society has now encircled the world. 



CHAPTER XI. 



THE NORTH PACIFIC MISSION. 

British Columbia. — Its early History. — Boundaries, Rivers. Resources. — 
The Metlakatlah Mission. — Its origin. 

ERY little was known of British Columbia till Sir 
Alexander Mackenzie, in 1790, crossed the Rocky 
Mountains from the east, and descended into it 
Before long, the traders of the North-West Fur 
Company followed in his steps, and established forts on the 
Columbia River. In 1806, Mr. Fraser, a trader of the Hud- 
son's Bay Company, established Fort Fraser at the head of 
the river of the same name. The Hudson's Bay Company 
afterwards obtained a licence for the exclusive trade of the 
territory west of the Rocky Mountains, which expired in 1859 
Previous to that, no Europeans had visited the country except 
the traders of the Fur Company. " Its fertile valleys, and 
rich pasture-lands, its mines of gold, copper, and silver, its 
magnificent forests, its lakes and rivers abounding in fish, 
were useless, except to support a few wandering tribes of 
Indians. No steamboats navigated its lakes ; there were no 
roads; its streams turned no mills." The sole object which 




n8 



Day spring in the Far West, 



the handful of traders had in view was to obtain the greatest 
possible number of furs. In 1858 it was discovered that large 
quantities of gold were to be found in the country ; in conse- 
quence there was an immediate rush of gold-seekers. The 
Hudson's Bay Company being unable to establish order 
amongst these invaders of their territory, their charter was 
revoked, and the country formed into a colony, under the 
name of British Columbia. The boundaries of the colony are, 
on the south, the United States territory ; on the north, the 
60th parallel of latitude ; on the west, the Pacific and the 
Province of Alaska ; on the east the watershed of the Rockv 
Mountains and the 120th meridian of longitude. The neigh- 
bouring islands are included in the colony, with the exception 
of Vancouver's, which forms an independent colony under 
its own legislative government. The mainland has a coast of 
about five hundred miles in length, and about an equal number 
in breadth from the coast to the Rocky Mountains. It now 
forms a portion of the Dominion of Canada. Its scenery is 
of the most varied character — snow-capped mountains, sombre 
forests, prairies and pasture-lands, rivers and lakes, diversify 
the landscape. The Fraser is the chief river of British 
Columbia. It is from 450 to 500 miles in length. The Stuart 
and the Thompson Rivers are tributaries of the Fraser. It is 
navigable for about 103 miles from its estuary to the town 
of Yale. Beyond this numerous rapids interfere with its 
further navigation. The Columbia River flows through the 
south-east portion of the province until it enters American 
territory. The Thompson River, which flows through Lake 
Kamloops, is navigable for steamers for some distance. Tra- 
vellers from Red River, after crossing the Rocky Mountains, 



The North Pacific Mission. 



119 



can proceed by water to Cariboo, the site of the gold-diggings. 
Silver, iron, and coal are also found in British Columbia. 
There is a large extent of land well adapted to agricultural 
and pastoral purposes. On the lower part of the Fraser 
River the country is hilly, and much rain falls, but in many 
parts the climate is fine and dry, and the soil fertile. Fruits 
come to great perfection here, and wild flowers grow luxu- 
riantly. In the forests is found timber of gigantic size ; some 
species of pine reach the height of 150 and even 200 feet. 
The Douglas pine sometimes attains 300 feet, and grows 
perfectly straight. 

The Indian population of British Columbia is supposed to 
amount to 80,000. They belong chiefly to the Great Tinne, 
or Chipewyan family. They are well disposed towards 
Europeans, but the greater portion of them are in a very 
degraded condition. They never bathe or wash ; they say that 
dirt keeps them warm in winter, and protects them from the 
sun in summer. The women saturate their hair with salmon 
oil, paint it with red ochre, and powder it with the down of 
birds. Both men and women are repulsive in appearance ; 
they are cruel and vindictive, and much given to drinking when 
they have the opportunity. It is estimated that there are in 
British Columbia, between the parallels of 49 0 and 54 0 40' 
north latitude, four distinct tribes of Indians, speaking different 
languages, and each numbering about 10,000 souls. The first 
of these great branches of the Indian family is met with at 
Victoria and on the Fraser River. The second is located about 
a hundred miles north of Victoria, and round Fort Rupert at 
the north end of Vancouver's Island. The third division is 
settled at Fort Simpson, Naas River, Skeena River, and on 



120 



Day spring in the Far West. 



the islands of the coast. These are the Tsimsheans, amongst 
whom the Church Missionary Society commenced a Mission 
in 1857. There are, fourthly, the Indians on Queen Charlotte's 
Island. 

In 1856, Captain Prevost, having been appointed to survey 
the Pacific coast,offered a free passage in H.M.S. " Satellite" to 
any Missionary whom the Church Missionary Society might 
appoint to labour amongst the tribes in British Columbia. 
The offer was accepted, and Mr. Duncan, then in the Society's 
Training College at Islington, was selected to go out as cate- 
chist and commence a Mission amongst the Tsimsheans 
settled around Fort Simpson. He arrived at the Fort in 
October, 1857, just at the time when the Indians were cele- 
brating their medicine mysteries before setting off to the 
rivers to secure a stock of fish for their winter consumption. 
At the celebration of these mysteries every kind of abomina- 
tion is practised by the Indians. 

Through the kindness of Sir James Douglas, Governor of 
British Columbia, Mr. Duncan was provided with accommoda- 
tion in the Fort. Fort Simpson consists of a few dwellings 
and warehouses with trading stores and workshops. It is built 
in a square of about a hundred yards, enclosed by a palisade 
of trunks of trees sunk in the ground, and rising to the height 
of twenty feet, protected at the corners by a wooden bastion, 
mounted with cannon. Along the top of the palisade runs a 
platform on which the garrison can take exercise, and from 
which a good view of the surrounding country is obtained. 
The Indian camp contained about 250 wooden houses, 
ranged along the beach on either side of the Fort. About 
2500 Indians were here collected together. The Tsimshean 



The North Pacific Mission. 



121 



nation is divided into ten tribes, each distinguished by its 
crest. A crest is ruled over by four or five chiefs, one of 
whom takes precedence of the others and represents the crest 
in any general gathering. Among the head chiefs one again 
is regarded as the chief of chiefs. The rank of a chief is 
denoted by the height of a pole erected in front of his house, 
on which the crest which distinguishes his division is carved. 
The greater the chief, the higher the pole. Frequent quarrels 
arise from the ambition of some chief to set up a pole higher 
than his rank permits. The head chief of a tribe of Naas 
River Indians, having attempted this on one occasion, a fight 
ensued, and the ambitious chief was shot through the arm, 
which induced him to lower his stick. The crests are the whale, 
the porpoise, the eagle, the coon, the wolf, and the frog. The 
Indian regulations with regard to these crests are remarkable ; 
those belonging to the same crest may not intermarry — for 
instance, a whale may not marry a whale, but a whale may 
marry a frog. If an Indian be poor, he has a claim on those 
of his tribe who are of the same crest with himself. Some- 
times a chief, wishing to make a display, resolves to give a 
great feast, at which property is to be distributed. For 
some time before, he is occupied in collecting this property 
from members of his crest. He wears his crest painted on 
his forehead, or on the paddles of his canoe, or worked with 
buttons on his blanket, and the members of his crest are then 
w bound to honour him by casting property before it, pro- 
portionate to their rank and means. These gifts are publicly 
exhibited in order to impress the beholders with a sense of 
the magnificence of the donor. Cotton cloths by hundreds of 
yards, blankets in great quantities, the rarest furs, are spread 



122 



Day spring in the Far West, 



out, and then given away. Frequently blankets are torn up in 
narrow strips, which are scrambled for by the spectators. 

A scene witnessed by Mr. Duncan soon after his arrival 
showed how greatly these poor savages needed the softening 
influences of Christianity. " The other day we were called to 
witness a terrible scene. An old chief, in cool blood, ordered 
a slave to be dragged to the beach, murdered, and thrown 
into the water. His orders were quickly obeyed. The victim 
was a poor woman. Two or three reasons are assigned for 
this foul act : one is, that it is to take away the disgrace 
attached to his daughter, who has been suffering some time 
from a ball wound in the arm ; another report is, that he 
does not expect his daughter to recover, so he has killed this 
slave in order that she may prepare for the coming of his 
daughter into the unseen world. I think the former reason 
is the more probable. I did not see the murder, but imme- 
diately after I saw crowds of people running out of their 
houses near to where the corpse was thrown, and forming 
themselves ,into groups at a good distance away. This I 
learnt was from fear of what was to follow. Presently two 
bands of furious wretches appeared, each headed by a man 
in a state of nudity. They gave vent to the most unearthly 
sounds, and the two naked men made themselves look as 
unearthly as possible, proceeding in a creeping kind of stoop, 
and stepping like proud horses, at the same time shooting 
forward each arm alternately, which they held out at full 
length in the most defiant manner. For some time they pre- 
tended to be seeking the body, and the instant they came 
where it lay, they commenced screaming and rushing round 
it like angry wolves. Finally, they seized it, dragged it out 



The North Pacific Mission. 



123 



of the water, and laid it on the beach, where I was told the 
naked men would commence tearing it to pieces with their 
teeth. The two bands of men immediately surrounded them, 
and so hid their horrid work. In a few minutes the crowd 
broke in two again, w r hen each of the naked cannibals 
appeared with half of the body in their hands ; separating a 
few yards, they commenced, amid horrid yells, their still more 
horrid feast. The sight was too terrible to behold. The two 
bands of savages alluded to belong to what w 7 hite men term 
' Medicine Men.' The superstitions connected with this fearful 
system are deeply rooted here ; and it is the admitting 
and initiating of fresh pupils into these arts that employ 
numbers and excite interest during all the winter months. 
This year I think there must have been eight or ten parties of 
them, but each party has seldom more than one pupil at 
once. 

" Each party has some characteristics peculiar to itself, but, 
in a more general sense, their divisions are but three, namely, 
those who eat human bodies, the dog-eaters, and those who 
have no custom of the kind. Of all these parties, none are so 
much dreaded as the cannibals. One morning I w r as called 
to witness a stir in the camp which had been caused by this 
set. When I reached the gallery, I saw hundreds of Tsim- 
sheans sitting in their canoes, which they had just pushed away 
from the beach. I was told the cannibal party were in search 
of a body to devour, and if they failed to find a dead one, it 
was probable they would seize the first living one that came in 
their way ; so that all the people living near the cannibals' 
house had taken to their canoes to escape being torn to pieces. 
It is the custom among these Indians to burn their dead ; but 



1 24 



Day spring in the Far West. 



I suppose for these occasions they take care to deposit a 
corpse somewhere, in order to satisfy these inhuman 
wretches. 

" These, then, are some of the things and scenes which occur 
in the day during the winter months, while the nights are 
taken up with amusements— singing and dancing. Occasion- 
ally the medicine parties invite people to their several houses, 
and exhibit tricks before them of various kinds. Some of the 
actors appear as bears, while others wear masks, the parts of 
which are moved by strings. The great feature in their 
proceedings is to pretend to murder, and then to restore to 
life, and so forth. The cannibal on such occasions is generally 
supplied with two, three, or four human bodies, which he tears 
to pieces before his audience. Several persons, either from 
bravado or as a charm, present their arms for him to bite. I 
have seen some whom he has thus bitten, and I hear two have 
died from the effects." 

Such were the people whom Mr. Duncan had come to 
instruct, and as he gazed on these savage scenes, his heart was 
stirred within him, and he longed for the time when he should 
be able to tell them of Christ and His salvation. He at once 
commenced the study of the Tsimshean language. With the 
assistance of an Indian named Clah, the interpreter at the 
Fort, he first went through an English dictionary, and taking 
1500 of the most essential words, obtained the equivalents for 
them. He next wrote down about 11 00 short sentences. 
His Indian teacher took great interest in his progress, and the 
Indians manifested much anxiety for the time when he should 
be able to speak to them in their own language. Sometimes 
a few would enter the room where he was at work, and take a 



The North Pacific Mission. 



125 



childish delight in helping to find out equivalents. At the 
same time, he tried to win their confidence. In the month 
of January, 1858, he began to visit them in their houses, taking 
Clah with him to interpret. The people received him on these 
occasions in a friendly manner, saluting him with " Clah- 
how-yah," the complimentary expression of welcome. This 
would be repeated several times, then a general movement 
and squatting would ensue, then a breathless silence, during 
which all eyes were fixed on the visitor. After a time several 
would begin nodding and smiling, at the same time reiterating 
in a low tone, " Ahm, ahm ah ket, Ahm Shimauyet." (Good, 
good person, good chief.) In some houses he was made to 
take the chief place by the fire, and a mat was put on a box 
for him to sit upon. From these visits Mr. Duncan found 
that the people were anxious for instruction, and that they 
believed the white man to possess some grand secret about 
eternal things which they desired to know. Here was a 
token of encouragement. By the month of May Mr. Duncan 
had made so much progress in the Tsimshean language 
as to enable him, with the assistance of Clah,to prepare a 
written address. He then went round to all the chiefs, and 
asked each one to allow him to use his house to address the 
people. Each one consented. When the day fixed upon 
arrived, it proved wet, and as the hour appointed for the gather- 
ing drew near, it rained in torrents. Nevertheless, more than 
a hundred men assembled. At the last moment Mr. Duncan's 
heart failed him, and he asked his interpreter to speak for him, 
while he read the paper ; to this proposal Clah demurred, and 
Mr. Duncan saw he must do the best he could. Telling the 
Indians to shut the door, he knelt down and prayed for God's 



126 



Day spring in the Far West. 



help. Then he read his address. Perfect silence prevailed, 
and the Indians showed by their looks that they understood 
what was said. After the address, he desired the Indians to 
kneel down while he prayed in English. They at once com- 
plied. He then went to the next chiefs house, where all was 
in readiness; a canoe sail had been spread out for Mr. Duncan 
to stand upon, and a box covered with a mat placed for a seat. 
About 150 persons were present. Again all were attentive, 
and all knelt during prayer. This was the house of the head 
chief, a very wicked man, but he was present. Each of the 
other seven divisions of the tribe were visited in succession. 
The smallest congregation was fifty, the largest two hundred. 
In all, about nine hundred persons heard for the first time the 
message of salvation. Amongst these were some strangers 
from surrounding tribes. One chief absented himself during 
the time Mr. Duncan addressed the people in his house, though 
he had caused it to be neatly prepared ; he had a few days 
before killed a slave to gratify his pride, and probably he was 
ashamed to be present. Alarm was depicted on some of the 
countenances of those who listened to Mr. Duncan's address, 
as he warned them of sin and its consequences. A few days 
after this first attempt to preach to the Indians, Mr. Duncan 
took each of the chiefs a small present, as an acknowledgment 
of the kindness they had shown him. These presents, though 
trifling in value, were gratefully received, and much pleasure 
was manifested on finding that Mr. Duncan appreciated the 
assistance given him by the chiefs. One of the chiefs offered 
Mr. Duncan the use of his house for a schoolroom. The offer 
was accepted, and the school was commenced on June 28th ; 
twenty-six children were present in the morning, and fifteen 



The North Pacific Mission. 



127 



adults in the afternoon. The children were with one excep- 
tion neat and clean ; in the case of this one it was found that it 
was superstition which prevented him wearing a shirt like the 
rest ; he had been initiated into the medicine mysteries in the 
previous winter, and to have worn anything but a blanket or 
a skin during the next year would, it was imagined, cause some 
terrible calamity to fall upon him. The children were atten- 
tive and intelligent. With the adults, however, Mr. Duncan 
did not succeed so well. The chief and his wife in whose 
house the school was held placed themselves under instruction, 
but they preferred attending with the children, saying they 
wished to help to keep order. 

But soon difficulties presented themselves. A party of 
Indians from Queen Charlotte's Island arrived with large 
quantities of food to trade. A quarrel took place, the strangers 
were robbed, and one or two wounded and taken prisoners. 
A second party coming a day or two afterwards were attacked, 
their canoes plundered and broken up. One Tsimshean 
espoused the cause of the islanders, great commotion ensued, 
five tribes became involved in the fighting, and the noise and 
confusion were such that it was almost impossible to continue 
the school. After some days, however, a truce was agreed 
upon, and all went on as before. The school prospered, and 
the people became increasingly anxious for instruction. On 
visiting a chief in his house, Mr. Duncan found him learning 
the letters of the alphabet from a piece of board on which the 
letters had been chalked out by his son, one of Mr. Duncan's 
most promising scholars. 

In July, Mr. Duncan again preached to the Indians in 
Tsimshean ; as before, he went to each tribe separately. On 



128 



Day spring in the Far West. 



this occasion one man refused to kneel ; he sat still, a sullen 
observer of the whole proceeding. He was the chief of the 
cannibal gang, and probably, like Demetrius, the silversmith 
of Ephesus, he saw that his " craft was in danger." This 
chief's name was Quthray. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE METLAKATLAH SETTLEMENT. 

Persecuted for the Work's sake.— Christmas Services. — Fort Simpson. — 
Small-pox. — Death of Converts. 

N September Mr. Duncan commenced the building 
of a school-house. It was completed by the 17th of 
November. The boards for the roof and the floor 
were given by the Indians, some even took the boards 
off their own roofs to give to Mr. Duncan, so warm was the 
interest which they took in the erection of the school-house, 
and the heart of the faithful Missionary was cheered by these 
willing offerings. No sooner was the school opened than Mr. 
Duncan's scholars hastened to the new building; one mounted 
the platform and struck the steel which supplied the place of 
a bell to summon his companions. Fifty adults and fifty 
children assembled, and four of the five chiefs of the tribe 
determined to give up their heathenish ceremonies, the time 
for performing which had now arrived. Even amongst those 
who still clung to their barbarous customs, the work was 
carried on feebly. The little leaven which leaveneth the 
whole lump was gradually spreading and permeating the 
mass. 

K 




13° 



Day spring hi the Far West. 



The number of scholars also increased, and fewer of them 
appeared with their faces painted. 

But it soon became evident that a storm was impending. 
Rumours reached Mr. Duncan that the medicine men intended 
to put a stop to the teaching ; Legaic, the head chief of the 
Indians, complained that the children running past his house 
to and from school interfered with hirn and his party in work- 
ing their mysteries : he therefore requested that the school 
might be closed for a month. This Mr. Duncan refused. He 
then demanded that it should be closed for a fortnight ; this 
also was refused, notwithstanding that Legaic accompanied 
his demand by a threat to shoot any of the children who 
continued to attend. At last Legaic asked four days' suspen- 
sion of the school; this also was refused. A few hours after- 
wards, Legaic and his party of medicine men dressed in their 
charms appeared at the door of the school. Legaic and seven 
others entered the room ; the chief ordered the children to be 
off. Mr. Duncan, seeing their object was to intimidate him, 
spoke to them calmly, telling them they must not think they 
could make him afraid, he must obey God rather than men. 
The interview lasted an hour: Legaic, drawing his hand across 
his throat, assured Mr. Duncan that he knew how to kill 
men. 

At length the chief, finding his efforts unavailing, went 
away. It afterwards appeared that Mr. Duncan owed his life 
cn this occasion to his interpreter Clah. No sooner had 
Legaic and his followers entered the school-house than Clah 
also entered, not dressed as usual, with him, in European 
costume, but in his blanket. Leaning against the wall just 
inside the door, he calmly watched the proceedings, but 



The Metlakatlah Settlement. 131 



Legaic knew that the blanket concealed a revolver, he knew 
also that Clah was a resolute man, and skilful in the use of 
fire-arms, and that, moreover, he regarded Mr. Duncan as 
under his protection, and that any injury done to Mr. Duncan 
would be instantly revenged by his own death. Well might 
Mr. Duncan record in his diary that night, " I bless the Lord 
for His gracious care of me this day." The indignation of 
the medicine men at being thus thwarted was very great, and 
threats of violence to the scholars were again renewed; so that 
Mr. Duncan felt obliged to accept the offer of a chief to hold 
the school in his house, where the children would not be 
afraid to come. These events took place shortly before 
Christmas, 1858. On Christmas Eve Mr. Duncan explained 
to his scholars the meaning of the Christian festival, and 
invited them to bring their friends the next day. No less than 
200 assembled, and then for the first time Mr. Duncan 
attempted an extemporaneous address in Tsimshean. He 
told them of our lost condition, and of the pity and love of 
God in giving His Son to die for us ; he exhorted them to 
leave their sins and pray to Jesus, warning them of the conse- 
quences if they refused, and telling them of the good which 
would follow on obedience. As he enumerated the sins of 
which they were guilty, he saw significant looks exchanged 
with each other, which showed him that some realized the 
truth of his words. After his address, Mr. Duncan questioned 
the children on some simple Bible truths, and the service was 
concluded by singing two hymns which he had previously 
taught in the school. 

The same plan was pursued every Sunday, simple hymns 
were sung and repeated, a short address given, and the service 

K 2 



132 



Day spring in the Far West. 



concluded with singing and prayer. In these services the 
Indians took much interest. 

At the beginning of the year Mr. Duncan returned to his 
school-house. The number of his scholars increased, and 
many made considerable progress in learning to read, while 
the improved conduct of some showed that Mr. Duncan's 
teaching had not been in vain. This proved the quietest 
winter Fort Simpson had ever known, not one murder having 
been committed. 

In March, 1859, the Indian school was visited by three of 
the Hudson's Bay Company's Officers and the Rev. R. Dow- 
son, Missionary of the S. P. G. to the Indians on Vancouver's 
Island. More than 300 persons were assembled in the school, 
and the gentlemen expressed themselves surprised and 
delighted at what they saw. 

" It is truly wonderful," said Mr. Dawson. 

About this time Mr. Duncan conceived the idea of forming 
a separate Missionary settlement for the Christian natives, and 
the need of an ordained Missionary to assist in the work was 
very evident ; Mr. Duncan therefore earnestly requested the 
Church Missionary Society to send him out a coadjutor at 
once. 

Towards the close of the year, 1859, he had a touching 
proof that he had not laboured in vain, nor spent his strength 
for nought. He was sent for to visit a young man who was 
dying of consumption. On entering the house he found some 
twenty people assembled ; he rebuked the noise and tumult, 
and directed the dying man to fix his heart on the Saviour. 
" Oh yes, sir ; oh yes, sir;" he replied. He begged Mr. 
Duncan, with much earnestness, to continue to teach his little 



The Metlakatlah Settlement. 



133 



girl; he wanted her to be good. By the side of the dying man 
sat a young woman, one of Mr. Duncan's most regular pupils, 
remarkably intelligent, and attentive to instruction. With 
tears in her eyes she begged him to give his heart to God, 
and to pray to him. During his illness this young man never 
permitted the medicine men to try their incantations upon 
him. He died assuring the people of his happiness. 

In this year Mr. Duncan printed in the native language a 
small Church service, containing three hymns, and a prayer he 
had himself composed. 

He also drew up a short catechism, which he also printed, 
and fifty-five texts of Scripture, arranged in three classes, the 
first marking the difference between the good and the bad ; 
the second referring to doctrines, and the third to practice. 
He also prepared a series of reading lessons to be used by the 
scholars at home. Before starting for the fishing grounds, the 
chief sent a message to Mr. Duncan, to " speak strong " against 
the bad ways of their people, promising that they would 
second what he said with " strong speeches." Moreover 
Legaic sent word that he intended to come to school himself. 
Evidently, Mr. Duncan's teaching had made an impression on 
the Indians. The light was penetrating the darkness, and 
hope and gratitude swelled the heart of the Missionary. 

In August, i860, the Rev. L. S. Tugwell arrived from Eng- 
land to co-operate with Mr. Duncan. At the time of Mr. 
Tugwell's arrival Mr. Duncan was at Victoria^ whither he had 
gone at the request of the Governor of Vancouver's Isle to 
assist in organizing plans for the benefit of the Indians in that 
locality. On the 13th of August the two Missionaries set sail 
in a steamer for Fort Simpson. On their way they touched 



134 



Day spring in the Far West. 



at Fort Rupert, where the Indians were loud in their com- 
plaints of a white teacher not being sent to them, and earnestly 
entreated that they might have a Missionary as early as 
possible. 

On arriving at Fort Simpson, and witnessing the work done 
there, Mr. Tugwell thus wrote : — " How I wish the friends of 
Missions in England could see Mr. Duncan's congregation on 
Sunday. They would, indeed, thank Qod, and take courage. 
I have never seen an English congregation on Sunday more 
orderly and attentive. With but few exceptions, both the 
children and adults come clean and neatly dressed. The 
children sing hymns very sweetly. A morning and evening 
hymn, composed by Mr. Duncan, a hymn to our Saviour, and 
another beginning, ' Jesus is my Saviour/ 'Here we suffer 
grief and pain,' and some others in English, also one in 
Tsimshean, composed by Mr. Duncan. The Indians all up 
the coast are crying out for teachers ; ' Come over and help 
us/ Now seems the propitious moment ; soon hundreds, yea 
thousands, will have perished." Mr. Duncan also wrote about 
the same time earnestly begging for Missionaries to be sent 
out, and suggesting that each clergyman should be accom- 
panied by a schoolmaster, able to teach some industrial occu- 
pation, with a view to finding employment for the Indians, 
and thus keeping them from Victoria, which he described as a 
" sink of corruption.'' " Here," says one, " is a large popula- 
tion comprising representatives of almost every nation under 
heaven, a population composed for the most part of waifs and 
strays of humanity ; it is a very vortex of dissipation. The 
Indians who visit Victoria return to their homes tainted by 
the most degrading vices, and possessed with a craving for 



The Metlakatlah Settlement. 



135 



ardent spirits." Hence Mr. Duncans earnest desire to provide 
useful occupation for the Indians at home. 

He now prepared to carry out his project of forming a new 
settlement for the converts. The place selected was called 
Metlakatlah, situated about twenty miles down the coast. 
Here they would be removed from the contaminating influence 
of contact with the white traders. It was proposed that Mr. 
Tugwell should accompany the Christian Indians to their new 
home. For taking this step the following reasons were given 
by Mr. Duncan : — 

1. The discovery of gold in the northern districts of British 
Columbia, promised to attract a large mining population to 
the neighbourhood of Fort Simpson. 

2. There was not room on the coast at Fort Simpson for 
building new houses. 

3. There was no available land for gardens. 

4. The proposed settlement would be central for six tribes 
of Indians speaking the Tsimshean tongue. 

5. The Christian Indians were most anxious to escape from 
the sights and thraldom of heathenism, and from the persecu- 
tion they endured from having to live in the same houses with 
heathen and drunkards. 

6. School operations would be put on a more satisfactory 
footing, as the imparting of secular knowledge would thus 
be limited to those who had embraced the Gospel. " All we 
want," wrote Mr. Duncan, "is God's favour and blessing," and 
then we may hope to build up in His good time a model 
Christian village, reflecting light and radiating heat to all the 
spiritually dark and dead masses of humanity around us." 

The following rules were drawn up by Mr. Duncan as indi- 



136 



Day spring in the Far West. 



eating the least he should expect from those who went to the 
new settlement : — 1. To give up their " Ahlied," or "Indian 
devilry;" 2. To cease calling in conjurors when sick; 3. To 
cease gambling ; 4. To cease giving away their property for 
display; 5. To cease painting their faces; 6. To cease 
drinking intoxicating drinks ; 7. To rest on the Sabbath ; 
8. To attend religious instruction ; 9. To send their children 
to school ; 10. To be cleanly ; 11. To be industrious ; 12. To 
be peaceful ; 13. To be liberal and honest in trade; 14. To 
build neat houses ; 15. To pay the village tax. 

The proposed removal to Metlakatlah was, however, post- 
poned to the spring of the following year. The damp climate 
of Fort Simpson proved injurious to Mr. Tugwell's health, and 
he was compelled to return to England, to the great disappoint- 
ment of Mr. Duncan. 

Early in May, 1862, preparations began to be made for 
removing to the new settlement. The large school-house was 
pulled down, the materials formed into a raft and sent off to 
the new site. Two days after the raft had started a canoe 
arrived from Victoria, bringing word that small-pox had broken 
out among the Indians at Victoria, and that many Tsimsheans 
had died. The next day other canoes arrived bringing 
mournful particulars of the virulence of the disease. On the 
27th, Mr. Duncan set sail with a party of fifty men, women 
and children, in six canoes. "Ffelt," said he, "that we were 
beginning an eventful page in the history of this poor people, 
and earnestly sighed to God for His help and blessing." By 
two the next day the little fleet of canoes arrived safely at its 
destination. They found the Indians, who had preceded them, 
hard at work clearing the ground and sawing planks. They 



The Metlakatlah Settlement. 



137 



had erected two temporary houses, and planted a quantity of 
potatoes. For the next few days all w T ere busy choosing the 
sites for their houses and gardens, and preparing for building, 
and every night they assembled, a happy family, for singing 
and prayer, Mr. Duncan at the same time giving an address 
on some portion of Scripture suggested by the events of 
the day. On the 6th of June a fleet of thirty canoes arrived 
from Fort Simpson, containing 300 souls, forming nearly the 
whole of the tribe, called Keetlahn, with two of their chiefs. 

A few days later news arrived that the small-pox had broken 
out at Fort Simpson, and had taken fearful hold of their 
camp. 

" Some of the Indians sought refuge in their charms and 
lying vanities. They dressed up their houses with feathers 
and rind of bark, and the rattles of the conjurors were kept 
constantly going, but all was of no avail ; several of the 
charmers fell a prey to the disease, and death and desolation 
spread far and wide. One of the tribes which had been fore- 
most in resorting to heathenish charms went for a time 
unscathed, which filled the conjurors with pride and boasting, 
but when it did seize upon them, this tribe suffered more than 
any other. In the whole camp the deaths were 500, more 
than one-fifth of the whole. Many of the heathen fled to Mr. 
Duncan in great fear ; amongst these was the head chief 
Legaic. He left Fort Simpson and settled down at Metlakatlah 
with his wife and daughter ; from this time he attached 
himself to Mr. Duncan, and gave earnest attention to his 
teaching. Only five fatal cases occurred amongst the Indians 
who originally left Fort Simpson with Mr. Duncan, and three 
of these were caused by attending sick relatives who went to 



138 



Day spring hi the Far West. 



the new village after taking the infection. One of those who 
succumbed to the malady was Stephen Ryan, who was 
baptized at Fort Simpson by Mr. Tugwell. " He died," says 
Mr. Duncan, "in a most distressing condition, so far as the 
body was concerned. Away from every one he loved, in a 
little bark hut on the rocky beach just beyond reach of the 
tide, which none of his friends dared to approach, except the 
one who nursed him, in this damp, lowly, distressing state, 
suffering from malignant small-pox, how cheering to receive 
from him such words as the following : ' I am quite happy, 
I find my Saviour very near to me, I am not afraid to 
die ; heaven is open to receive me. Give my thanks to 
Mr. Duncan : he told me of Jesus, I have hold of the ladder 
that reaches to heaven. All that Mr. Duncan told me I now 
find to be true. Do not weep for me. You are poor, being 
left ; I am not poor ; I am going to heaven. My Saviour is 
very near to me ; do all of you follow me to heaven ; let 
none of you be wanting. Tell my mother more clearly the 
way of life : I am afraid she does not yet understand the way. 
Tell her not to weep for me, but to get ready to die. Be all 
of one heart, live in peace. 5 " This case was not a solitary 
one ; the hope of eternal life through faith in a crucified 
Saviour shed light and joy around other dying beds. 

Quthray, the cannibal chief, who was one of the principal 
actors in the horrid scene witnessed by Mr. Duncan soon after 
his arrival at Fort Simpson, also died in the faith of Christ. 
Mr. Duncan visited him frequently during his illness. He had 
long and earnestly desired baptism, and he expressed in such 
clear terms his repentance for his sins, and his faith in the 
Saviour of sinners, that Mr. Duncan deemed it right in the 



The Metlakatlah Settlement. 



139 



absence of any ordained minister, to admit this dying man into 
the visible Church of Christ. Throughout his illness he 
manifested resignation and peace, weeping for his sins, depend- 
ing entirely on the Saviour, confident of pardon and rejoicing 
in hope. " Glorious change [" says Mr. Duncan. " Once a 
naked cannibal, see him clothed and in his right mind, believing 
in the Saviour and dying in peace." In these fruits of his 
labours Mr. Duncan found his richest reward, and his heart 
rose up in thankfulness to God who had used him as His 
instrument to bring souls out of darkness into the glorious 
light of the Gospel. 

From four hundred to five hundred persons now attended 
Divine service on Sundays. Seventy adults and twenty 
children were baptized. Two hundred children and adults 
were under instruction in the school, while forty young men 
had formed themselves into classes, and met for prayer and 
exhortation. The instruments of the medicine men had found 
their way into Mr. Duncan's house. Customs which form the 
very foundation of the Indian government had been given up 
because they were evil. Feasts began and ended with the 
offering of thanks to the Giver of all good. Thus was 
Metlakatlah a witness for the truth of the Gospel to the sur- 
rounding tribes, who saw in it the good things which they and 
their forefathers had sought and laboured for in vain, namely, 
peace, security, order, honesty, and progress. Such were the 
results of the Missionary's faithful and self-denying labours in 
his Master's vineyard. 




CHAPTER XIII. 



PROGRESS AT METLAKATLAH. 



Bishop of Columbia baptizes Converts. — Consistent Conduct of the bap- 
tized. — Operations are commenced at Naas River. 



one. It was the height of the fishing season, when the bishop 
arrived, and many of the candidates were absent at the fishing 
grounds ; they immediately made arrangements to leave their 
nets and travelled back to the village, a distance of eighty 
miles, to meet the Bishop. The examination of the cate- 
chumens lasted three days, and the answers given by each one 
to the questions put to him by the Bishop proved that they 
understood the great truths of the Bible, and looked to Christ 
only for the pardon of their sins and the hope of eternal life. 
A few only were deferred. The Bishop thus describes the 
service held on the occasion when he admitted these wanderers 
into the visible Church of Christ. : — 

"The impressiveness of the occasion was manifest in the 
devout and reverent manner of all present. There were no 




HE new Missionary village was visited in April, 
1863, by the Bishop of Columbia. On this occa- 
sion, Mr. Duncan presented fifty-seven candidates 
for baptism, of whom Legaic, the head chief, was 



Progress at Metlakatlah. 



141 



external aids, sometimes thought necessary for the savage 
mind to produce or increase the solemnity of the scene. The 
building is a bare, unfinished octagon of logs and spars — a 
mere barn, capable of holding 700 persons. A simple table 
covered with a white cloth, upon which stood three hand- 
basins of water; and I officiated in a surplice. Thus there 
was nothing to impress the senses — no colour/no ornament, or 
church decoration, or music. The solemnity of the scene was 
produced by the earnest sincerity and serious purpose with 
which these children of the Far West were prepared to offer 
themselves to God, and to renounce for ever the hateful sins 
and cruel deeds of their heathenism ; and the solemn stillness 
was broken only by the breath of prayer. The responses 
were made with earnestness and decision. Not one individual 
was there whose lips did not utter in their own expressive 
tongue their hearty readiness to believe and to serve God. 
Fourteen children were also baptized on the same day. It 
was pleasing to see the strong desire of the Christians for the 
admission of their children to the same privilege as them- 
selves." Children over seven were not admitted, the Bishop 
thinking they might be imbued with heathen ideas, and should 
be specially instructed preparatory to baptism. 

At the close of the year 1863, the Rev. R. Dundas, of the 
British Columbia Mission, visited Metlakatlah, when he 
baptized a considerable number of converts. " It was a pretty 
sight," he says, "to see the whole population, old and young, 
at the sound of the bell thronging to worship God. No need 
to lock doors, for there were no empty houses. Service began 
with a Tsimshean hymn, then followed the prayers in Tsim- 
shean ; at the close of which all joined in the Lord's Prayer in 



142 



Day spring in the Far West. 



English. Mr. Duncan's address was upon the story of Martha 
and Mary ; it lasted nearly an hour. The attention of the 
people never seemed to flag throughout The service was most 
striking. It was hard to realize that three years ago, these 
had all been sunk in the deepest heathenism, with all its 
horrible practices. What hours, what nights of supplication 
to God, must have been spent by this single-minded servant 
of God, that he might 'see of the travail of his soul/ and 
how has he been answered ? 'There is nothing too hard for 
the Lord/ Fifty-two persons were baptized, on this occasion, 
of whom thirty-nine were adults, the remaining thirteen being 
infants. This interesting place/' wrote Mr. Dundas, "now 
takes its place as one of the civilized villages of British 
Columbia. But it is more than that, it is the enduring witness 
of the faith and patience of one unaided Christian teacher 
whose sole reward (the only one he has ever coveted), is the 
souls he has been the honoured instrument of bringing out of 
darkness into light." 

"The conduct of these converts when absent from the 
settlement afforded satisfactory proof of the reality of the 
change which had taken place in them. 'Wherever these 
Indians go/ says Mr. Duncan, i they always carry their religion 
with them, assembling themselves together for worship on the 
Sunday, and getting as many of the heathen to join them as 
possible. An Indian of Fort Simpson who has received 
instruction from one, though he is not a resident of our new 
village, came here a few days ago, bringing seven young men 
with him from one of the highest villages up the Naas River, 
over 100 miles distant. He brought them that they might 
witness for themselves the things of which they had heard 



Progress at Metlakatlah. 



H3 



him speak. He has been residing at this village as a fur 
trader, but he has diligently employed his talents for God, 
setting forth the Gospel where it had not been preached before, 
and has met with great encouragement and apparent success. 
I had the whole party at my house last Wednesday evening, 
when I endeavoured very solemnly to impress upon their 
minds and hearts the first principles of the Gospel of Christ. 
Though intending to return home on the following day, they 
decided to remain over Sunday that they might receive 
further instruction to carry back with them to their waiting 
and thirsty tribe. They were anxious to carry back a 
portion of God's Word, so I wrote out for each on a piece of 
paper — ( This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all accepta- 
tion, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.' 
I also gave the Indian trader and teacher some instructions, and 
pointed himoutportionsof Scripturesuitedto him and his flock." 

During this year many plans had been set on foot by 
Mr. Duncan for the benefit of the Indians. A new road had 
been made round the village. Two good-sized houses had 
been built for the accommodation of strange Indians coming 
to trade. Rests had been fixed on the shore for canoes when 
unemployed, and slides for moving them into the water at low 
tides. Wells had been sunk, and a public playground laid 
out. Thus profitable employment was found for the men at 
home, and they were kept away from the labour markets, 
where temptations presented themselves too strong for the 
Indian in his then morally infantine condition to withstand. 
The Indians were also encouraged to prepare articles for 
exportation to Victoria, such as salt, smoked fish, fish grease, 
dried berries, and furs. 



144 



Day spring in the Far West. 



Another plan which Mr. Duncan had in view, and which he 
ultimately carried out, was to purchase a schooner for the 
purpose of trading to Victoria, in order to render the settle- 
ment independent of the barbarous class of men employed in 
running vessels up the coast, who by trading in intoxicating 
drink were working most terrible mischief. "The visits of 
these traders to the Indian camps were marked by murder 
and the maddest riots." 

The Dean of Victoria after visiting the village, wrote thus 
respecting the trading operations : — " No step of a temporal 
nature was more loudly demanded, or has conferred such 
important benefits on the people of Metlakatlah in conducing 
to their comfort and contentment in their new home. Instead 
of having to go seventeen miles for supplies to a heathen 
camp, they can procure them at their own doors at a cheaper 
rate. Persons who come hither to trade carry away some 
word or impression to affect their countrymen at home. 
During my sojourn in the village there has not been a single 
Sunday in which there have not been hearers of this descrip- 
tion, attendant on the Word of life. This is one of those 
branches of the work taken up by Mr. Duncan, simply because 
it was forced on him by circumstances as necessary to his 
entire success. 

" The time has passed away when he felt himself humiliated 
at being offered the sale of a fur. A striking benefit of the 
trade is the disposition of the profits, for with a view of 
transferring it when possible to other parties, he has always 
conducted it on business principles, in order that the parties 
assuming it might be able to live by it. Hitherto the profits 
realized on this principle, absorbed by no personal benefits, 



Progress at Metlakatlah. 



145 



have been expended on objects conducive to the public 
benefit, in the erection of public buildings, in subsidies to the 
people in aid of improving their roads, and wharves for canoes, 
in charity to the poor, and even in the redemption of slaves. 
The sum of £600 has been already expended on such objects, 
and ^400 are in hand ready to be applied to similar uses. In 
fact the only person who suffers is Mr. Duncan himself, who 
has sacrificed his comfort, his repose, and almost his health 
for the sole benefit of the people, but has been compensated 
by the rich reward of feeling that God has owned and blessed 
his sacrifice. Besides this, the trade affords industrial occu- 
pations for the people, and thus aids them in a more steady 
advancement in the comforts of civilized life. It is quite a 
lively scene to witness the various parties of labourers en- 
gaged, some in bringing the rough timber rafts from the 
forest, others in sawing it into planks, others planing, and 
others cutting shingles, others with nail and hammer erecting 
the building — all devoting themselves to their daily task 
rather with the constancy of the English labourer than with 
the fitful disposition of the savage." 

Such is the testimony of an eye-witness, who sojourned for 
a time in the village. Let us set by the side of this testimony 
the assertion of a recent traveller, that the Indian is so 
absolutely indolent by nature that it is impossible to make 
him work, and his extermination is therefore only a matter of 
time, and we think our readers will admit that what civiliza- 
tion alone failed to effect, the Gospel has accomplished. The 
contact of the Indian with the civilized trader during centuries 
left him only more degraded than before, for he added to his 
vicesown those of the white man. But when earnest, self- 

L 



146 



Day spring in the Far West. 



denying men of God went forth and preached to those wild 
men the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Indian 
was transformed from the indolent savage to the industrious, 
artisan and husbandman. Metlakatlah and the Missionary- 
village founded by Archdeacon Cockran at Red River, 
are a standing testimony to what may be accomplished for 
the Red man, which none can gainsay. The Spirit of God 
touching the heart, and enlightening the understanding, has 
raised the wild Indian out of the darkness of cruel supersti- 
tion ; his home and his person no longer present the aspect 
of misery, his countenance no longer indicates the savage 
nature within ; instead of this, cleanliness and comfort prevail 
in his cottage, intelligence beams in his eye, and as he labours 
diligently at his daily work, and reverently worships God in 
His house of prayer, the beholder may well say, "What hath 
God done?" "It is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous 
in our eyes." 

In July, 1864, the Rev. A. R. Doolan arrived to assist Mr. 
Duncan. It was at once arranged that he should take a 
distinct work amongst the Indians on the Naas River, to 
which district he proceeded, accompanied by Samuel Marsden, 
a native catechist. These Indians belonged to a tribe called 
Nishkah. They had been twice visited by Mr. Duncan, who 
received from them a most friendly reception. " Pity us, 
great Father in heaven, pity us," said a chief standing before 
Mr. Duncan. "This chief," he continued, pointing to Mr. 
Duncan, " has come to tell us about thee. It is good, great 
Father. We want to hear. Who ever came to tell our 
forefathers thy will ? No, no. But this chief has pitied us 
and come. He has thy Book. We will hear. We will receive 



Progress at Metlakailah. 



147 



thy word. We will obey." As the chief uttered the last 
sentences, a voice said, "Your speech is good." They 
assured Mr. Duncan that they wanted to cast away their 
bad ways and be good. They told him they loved him, and 
wanted him among them, seconding these assurances by 
feasting him in their houses, and giving him presents of furs. 
After he had preached to them about Christ, a chief said, 
"We are not to call upon stones and stars now, but Jesus. 
Jesus will hear. Jesus is our Saviour. Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! 
Jesus Christ. Good news ! good news ! Listen all. Put 
away your sins. God has sent his Word. Jesus is our Saviour. 
Take away my sins, Jesus. Make me good, Jesus." Such 
were the people amongst whom Mr. Doolan commenced his 
Missionary labours. Thus " the grain of mustard seed which 
a man sowed in his field " had grown up into a tree, and was 
spreading around its branches, and the people sat under its 
shadow with great delight. 




CHAPTER XIV. 



FURTHER PROGRESS. 

Improvements in the Village. — Testimony of a Roman Catholic gentle- 
man. — Visit of the Dean of Victoria. — Native Christians preach the 
Gospel. — Mr. Duncan leaves for England. — He learns various trades. — 
His return. — Erection of workshops and Church. — Kincolith. — Mis- 
sionary preaching. 

I^^^^HIUR space forbids us to dwell on the many interesting 
details connected with the progress of this Mission ; 
we pass on, therefore, to the year 1867. The village 
now presented a greatly improved aspect. The 
profits arising from the trade carried on by the schooner pur- 
chased by Mr. Duncan had been appropriated to the building 
of a large market-house, a blacksmith's shop, and a saw-mill. 
The octagon building, used as a church and school-house, had 
also been improved. The market-house, erected on the shore, 
near the upper end of a large jetty, had been divided into two 
portions, the smaller designed for a court-house, the larger for 
village assemblies and market-house, and for the accommo- 
dation of strangers. By this arrangement strange Indians, 
who often came in large numbers to trade, instead of being 
scattered over the village, to the great discomfort and detri- 
ment of the more civilized villagers, were hospitably enter- 
tained, and frequent opportunities afforded of addressing large 




Further Progress. 



149 



bodies of heathen from the surrounding country. " The good 
which the market-house is doing," wrote Mr. Duncan, "in 
facilitating the preaching of the Gospel to our heathen neigh- 
bours is very great, more than would, I think, arise from an 
itinerating Missionary. It used to be almost impossible to 
get strange Indians to assemble for any special effort in 
instruction. Now all is changed. The men who come for 
trade to us occupy this house, and are, in a sense, my guests, 
and I can find them ready and happy to hear me, or the young 
men of our village address them after the hum of trade has 
ceased.' , 

Many remained over the Sabbath, and attended the services 
of the church. The advantages of the trade shop were great. 
Instead of the savage altercations common to Indian trading, 
quietness and courtesy prevailed. All goods required in civi- 
lized life, and tending to elevate their tastes, and improve the 
appearance of the people, could be obtained at a moderate 
price. " My soap manufacture," says Mr. Duncan, " is quite 
a success ; I can let the Indians have a bar of soap for sixpence; 
such a bar cost them a few years ago £2 in furs. Now that 
their habits require more soap, here it is ready at hand, and 
cheap." 

By this time a Mission-house had been erected, con- 
taining seven apartments on the ground floor and a spacious 
dormitory upstairs, looking pleasantly out on the island of 
gardens. 

A Roman Catholic gentleman who visited Metlakatlah in 
1866, thus describes the impression made upon him by what 
he saw. " Being requested by several friends to give a sketch 
of my three months' trip as far as the Russian possessions, I 



Dayspring in the Far West. 



comply cheerfully, my principal motive for so doing being the 
vindication of the character of some noble and self-sacrificing 
men in the Missionary cause from the scandalous aspersions 
cast upon them by a portion of the press of the colony. I 
could not but feel surprised and gratified at the vast improve- 
ment in the condition of the Indians, both socially and 
morally. At Metlakatlah this improvement was particularly 
marked. The houses, numbering fifty, are nearly all of 
uniform size, weather-boarded and shingled, glazed windows, 
and having neat little gardens in front. The interior of the 
houses did not belie the exterior. Everything was neat and 
scrupulously clean. The inmates were well supplied with the 
requisites to make life comfortable. Cooking stoves and 
clocks were common to every dwelling, and in a few instances 
pictures adorned the walls. The sight at church on Sabbath 
morning was pleasant to behold. The congregation numbered 
300, the females preponderating ; the major portion of the 
males being at that time out fishing. They were all well clad, 
the women in their cloth mantles and merino dresses, and 
their heads gaily decked with the graceful bandanna ; the men 
in substantial tweeds and broad-cloth suits, and having the 
impress of good health and contentment on their intelligent 
features. Their conduct during Divine service was strictly 
exemplary. As a whole, Mr. Duncan's people are industrious 
and sober ; they are courteous and hospitable to strangers, 
and if properly protected by their government against the 
poison vendors of this country, will in time become a numerous 
and wealthy people." Commander R. C. Mayne says, " The 
labours of men of Mr. Duncan's class among the distant 
heathen are understood by the world, which refuses to credit 



Further Progress. 



the fact that savages such as these coast Indians undoubtedly 
are, can receive and return impressions so utterly at variance 
with their nature and their habits." Such is the testimony of 
men who have seen with their own eyes the work that has 
been done and is still doing. 

In August, 1867, the Dean of Victoria examined over a 
hundred candidates for baptism. Of these, he baptized ninety- 
six adults, besides eighteen children. "It was affecting," says 
the Dean, "to hear these candidates state their reasons for 
coming forward. One man, aged sixty-five, said, 'I feel like 
an infant, not able to say much, but I know my heart is turned 
to God, and that He has given His Son to wash away my 
sins in His blood.' A woman seventy-five said, ' My sins 
have stood in my way, I wish to put them off. I believe in 
Jesus/ Doubtless many of the Metlakatlah Christians are as 
yet only babes in Christ, requiring the constant nurture of the 
word, and the shepherd's watchful care ; yet we may indulge 
the hope that God, having begun the good work in them, will 
perform it unto the end. Signs of stability and self-reliance 
are not wanting. They gather themselves together for prayer 
at home and abroad ; they withstand the solicitations of their 
heathen acquaintances. They are not now ashamed, for they 
are the stronger party, feeling themselves belonging to Him 
before whose word the strongholds of Satan have been com- 
pelled to bow. There is growth, there is no retrogression, or 
if an individual lapses, he finds himself in the wretched situa- 
tion of possessing neither the confidence of the Church nor the 
world. Thanks be to Him who, in His own time, has seen fit 
to bring forth an elect remnant from a benighted people, to 
the praise of the glory of His grace. There is, however, a 



152 Day spring in the Far West. 



feature of the work of the Metlakatlah Mission which has 
struck me forcibly, namely, the temporal elevation of the peo- 
ple, and their advancement in civilization, results which are 
not the products of chance, or the necessary fruit of the work, 
but of deliberate arrangement and strenuous effort, even as 
a vessel among the reefs and breakers is warped to bring 
it out into the open sea." 

The climate of Metlakatlah is damp, and corn will not ripen, 
but vegetables grow well, the air is salubrious, and the scenery 
around the village is very lovely. 

In the early part of the year 1869 Mr. Duncan suggested 
to a few of the native Christians to go and preach the Gospel 
at Fort Simpson to each of the eight tribes there. Four 
started off at once, and were well received, yet all has 
not been unmixed success ; the faith and patience of the 
Missionaries have been much tried. Some of the heathen 
chiefs have done all in their power to restore heathenism, but 
their efforts have proved futile. 

In the spring of 1870 sickness visited the village, and num- 
bers of Indians died. Ten Christians were called to their rest : 
they died in the faith, manifesting no fear of death, and bearing 
testimony to all around of the preciousness of Jesus in the 
dying hour. 

Early in this year Mr. Duncan sailed for England ; great 
affection was manifested towards him by the people on his 
departure. They collected in crowds on the shore, and after 
he had said farewell and prayed with them on the beach, they 
followed him in their canoes to the ship. 

Mr. Duncan's object in visiting England was to acquire a 
knowledge of several simple trades, and to purchase machinery, 



Further Progress, 



153 



in order that he might on his return instruct his people in new 
modes of industry, and so find useful employment for the 
numbers of young men growing up in the village ; remunerative 
occupation being thus found for them in the village, they 
might be saved from the snares and temptations to which the 
Indians are exposed when brought into contact with the white 
men in the colony. For this purpose, Mr. Duncan visited 
Yarmouth, where he learnt rope-making and twine-spinning ; 
he also learnt weaving and brush-making. He made himself 
master of the gamut of each instrument in a band of twenty- 
one instruments : he also commenced a subscription for 
defraying the expenses of some improvements which he 
contemplated on his return. He wished to build a new 
church and school, and he desired to assist the Indians to 
rebuild their houses after a more substantial and permanent 
model than had been possible on the first formation of the 
village. For these purposes he calculated that £600 would 
be required. Before he left England, he had received ^400 
towards the required sum. On the 14th of October Mr. Dun- 
can reached San Francisco on his way back to his sphere of 
labour, "very weary and dusty, having been a second-class 
passenger, and therefore without sleeping accommodation 
for over 2000 miles." Being delayed here three weeks, 
he endeavoured to make the best use of his time by visiting 
the mills and gaining useful information, which he might 
afterwards turn to account. He also made new friends, who 
promised to help him ; one of these made him a present of 
shuttles, treddles, spindles, and carding materials. Arriving 
at Victoria on the nth of November, he was compelled to 
remain some weeks in order to carry out arrangements with 



154 



Day spring in the Far West. 



the Government respecting the Indian reserves, and other 
matters connected with the settlement. He obtained from 
the Government power to allot to individual Indians a portion, 
not exceeding ten acres, of the native reserves around Metla- 
katlah, with the right for each one to clear, enclose, and 
cultivate his own portion. The Government also gave Mr. 
Duncan a donation of 500 dollars, to be spent upon the 
constables and council of the village. His leisure Mr. Duncan 
employed in practising on a band of brass instruments given 
him in England, and in compiling new Indian services in 
Tsimshean. He also purchased a steam-boiler and pipes to 
carry out a new system of making the Oolachan oil so much 
used by the Indians, their process of manufacturing which is 
injurious to health. 

On the 27th of February, 1871, Mr. Duncan arrived at 
Metlakatlah, after an absence of thirteen months, six of which 
he spent in England. It was Sunday afternoon when he 
arrived at the landing-place ; the news of his arrival spread 
quickly, and on the following morning a large canoe arrived at 
the ship to convey him home. The happy crew gave him a 
warm welcome. With a favouring breeze and two sails 
hoisted, the canoe dashed merrily through the boiling waves 
to the shore, where the Indians in crowds were waiting to 
welcome their benefactor. As Mr. Duncan stepped on shore 
a salute was fired, and the chief men with hats off advanced 
and gave him a welcome as heartfelt as it was respectful. 
Then the constables discharged their muskets, and a general 
rush to seize Mr. Duncan's hand took place. Deeply moved 
by these tokens of their love for him, Mr. Duncan pressed on to 
his house, where the people poured in, in such crowds that he 



Further Progress. 



155 



ordered the church bell to be rung. At once they all hurried 
to the church, and when Mr. Duncan entered it was full. 
For a few moments all was silence, and then the whole 
congregation joined in hearty thanksgiving to God, after 
which Mr. Duncan addressed the assembly for twenty minutes. 
This concluded, he went to visit the sick and the aged. Very 
touching were the scenes that followed, and many were the 
assurances he received of the earnest desires of the aged men 
to see him once more. Returning to his house it was again 
crowded, and Mr. Duncan sat down with fifty for a general 
talk, when he gave them the messages he had written down in 
his note-book from Christian friends in England, and so they 
remained talking till midnight. Even then the village 'was 
lighted up, and many did not go to bed all night, but sat up 
talking over what they had heard from their dearly-loved 
friend. How different this reception from that accorded to 
Mr. Duncan on his first arrival at Fort Simpson fourteen 
years ago ! Then he was regarded with suspicion and contempt. 
Love had now taken the place of fear, light the place of dark- 
ness, and hundreds now joined in prayer and praise to the 
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ whom but a few 
short years before they knew not. 

No time was lost by Air. Duncan in setting on foot his 
plans for the benefit of the Indians. Large and commodious 
workshops have been erected. These shops are lighted by 
thirty windows, and are much admired by the Indians. A 
rope-walk has also been made. In a letter dated May 3rd, 
1873, Mr. Duncan says, "My work is increasing in every 
department, and our new church building absorbs much of my 
time, for having none but Indians to help me, I am obliged 



156 



Day spring in the Far West. 



to be both architect and master builder." This church will be 
capable of holding a thousand persons. But while there is 
much to encourage, there are also difficulties to be en- 
countered. At Fort Simpson heathenism has made a dying 
effort to regain its lost ground. The cannibal party at- 
tempted a renewal of their orgies, which are now, however, 
put down by law. Mr. Duncan, who is invested with the 
powers of a magistrate, arrested the old chief who was the 
principal actor, and rather than suffer himself to be im- 
prisoned, he publicly declared his intention of abandoning 
his detestable work for ever. These summary measures 
had the desired effect ; others, hearing what had been done, 
waited on Mr. Duncan, acknowledged their wickedness, and 
promised to abandon their cannibal and dog-eating orgies 
with all their degrading and abominable ceremonies. 

The Mission commenced by Mr. Doolan at Naas River is 
carried on by the Rev. R. Tomlinson, who joined the Mission 
in 1867. Kincolith is the Mission Station: "it stands on a 
spit of land formed by the junction of the Kincolith and Naas 
Rivers. It is not an exclusively Christian village ; all Indians 
are welcome to come and live there so long as they are willing 
to submit to the rules of order, sobriety, and morality which 
govern the village." Kincolith is distant from Metlakatlah 
about fifty miles. Thousands of Indians from the surrounding 
country, and from distant islands in the Pacific, flock every 
year to the banks of the Naas River, attracted thither by the 
vast multitudes of fish which frequent the river in the month 
of March. Multitudes are thus brought within reach of the 
Missionary, and carry back with them to their homes the 
things which they have heard. This Mission has had to 



Fttr titer Progress. 



157 



encounter a most furious opposition from the heathen Nishkah 
Indians, who openly declared their determination to disperse 
the little community. Three of the converts were enticed 
into evil-doing, and others showed signs of wavering. "Day 
after day only brought fresh tidings of new victories for the 
enemies of the truth/' and the heart of the Missionary fainted 
within him, yet he persevered, and determined as were his 
opponents, he was not to be deterred from carrying his message 
to the heathen around, and it has been given him to see that 
his labour is not in vain. Steady progress is at present the 
chief feature of the Mission ; the services in the church are 
well attended, and so also are the schools. The following 
account of a service held by Mr. Tomlinson amongst a heathen 
tribe displays the contrast between the work of a minister 
of the Gospel in our now happy land and that of the Mis- 
sionary amongst savages. 

"Imagine," he says, "a shed about thirty feet by ninety 
feet with a passage down the centre, and a row of fires on 
each side. Overhead and about five feet from the ground 
were thin poles, on which were hanging salmon, around each 
fire a knot of people, and here, there, and everywhere mats, 
pillows, boxes of food, &c. The salmon were taken off four 
or five of the poles, and a small place cleared for me to stand. 
'As we had no lamp oil, we borrowed an old pan, into this 
we poured some grease, and dropped in some red-hot cinders : 
this made a fine light. I had a set of large calico prints of the 
Pilgrim's Progress, these hung from two bent pins and a piece 
of twine ; meanwhile the men, women, and children, gathered 
as close as possible. The smoke was very thick in the build- 
ing, and the sticks over my head were so low that I was 



158 Day spring in the Far West. 



unable to stand upright ; but position, smoke, and every 
other drawback vanished when I looked round on those grim 
faces lighted up with interest. My heart burned within me ; 
one thought absorbed my whole soul. Those before me were 
immortal souls gathered to hear the Word of Life. I began, 
and such was the interest evinced by those around that two 
hours had come to a close before I drew up. I told them I 
was afraid I should tire them, but that I would go on if they 
wished to hear more. With one voice they said, i Go on/ 
Throughout the discourse I laid stress on the fact that we 
had not come to the end, so they were expecting something 
great. Imagine their disappointment, when on disclosing the 
picture of Christian and Hopeful at the River, I told them 
there is the end of the way, a cold dark river. They looked 
from one to the other, and then at me. The end of the 
Christian's way, and the end of your own ways ! But beyond 
the river — and here I pointed out where the difference lay. 
It was midnight when I ceased, but I was too happy to sleep 
for some time. I was refreshed and strengthened in myself, 
and it w r as granted me to see early fruit in one whom I had 
brought with me. The thought of his sinfulness and his 
Saviour's love made him weep all night. He took fast hold 
of a crucified Saviour, and has since been one of the most 
earnest, humble followers of his Lord." 

" Shores of the utmost West, 

Ye that have waited long, 
Unvisited, unblest, 

Break forth to swelling song ; 
High raise the note that Jesus died, 
Yet lives and reigns, the Crucified.''' 



Recent Intelligence from Metlakatlah. 159 



Recent Intelligence. 

Those of our readers who have followed the history of the 
Metlakatlah Mission with interest will rejoice to learn that the 
latest accounts from the Mission show that it both grows and 
prospers. Mr. Duncan thus writes, January 29, 1874: — "In 
no year during the existence of the Mission have God's mercies 
been more abundantly showered upon us than during the year 
that is past." Sickness seems scarcely to have visited the settle- 
ment ; the number of deaths registered during the year being 
only twelve, and these chiefly infants, or invalids from Fort 
Simpson. At the date of Mr. Duncan's letter the Indians were 
engaged in erecting a new church, under his direction ; so great 
is the interest they take in it, that they have contributed £\j6 
towards it. " I wish," says our Missionary, " that our Chris- 
tian friends in England could witness with how much joy 
these poor people come and cast down their blanket, gun, 
shirt, or elk skin, upon the general pile, to help in building 
the house of God." 

The Mission has also been strengthened by the arrival of 
Mr. W. H. Collison and Mrs. Collison, who, in the true 
Missionary spirit, at once entered energetically on their work, 
acquiring the language, and aiding Mr. Duncan in his plans 
for the benefit of the community to the utmost of their power. 

The corps of volunteer constables, now increased to thirty, 
is more than ever efficient, while the population of the settle- 
ment has received numerous additions from the surrounding 
tribes. It has, in consequence, been decided to lay out a 
new town, with roads running at right angles to the coast 
line, and capable of accommodating two hundred houses, 



i6o 



Day spring in the Far West. 



each with a garden in front. The new dwellings about to 
be erected will combine the accommodation necessary for the 
Indian as a Christian, without interfering with his love of 
hospitality. Drunkenness is unheard of except in the vicinity 
of white men. " What a glorious change," writes Mr. Duncan, 
"from the days of fiendish revel which I have witnessed!" 

So expert have the Metlakatlah carpenters and sawyers 
become, that Admiral Cockrane, of H.M.S. "Boxer," who paid 
an unlooked-for visit to the settlement last summer, on walk- 
ing into the work-sheds, and seeing the Indians at their work- 
benches, mistook them for Europeans, not thinking it possible 
that Indians could ever become the clever, industrious artisans 
whom he saw before him. The admiral was greeted with 
roars of laughter when Mr. Duncan explained to them the 
mistake he had made. 

The school register shows a list of 300 scholars ; of these, 
eighty-five are children between the ages of five and twelve ; 
104 are women and girls who attend school in the afternoon, 
and the remaining 11 1 are men and boys attending the night 
school. Mr. Collison teaches in English, while Mr. Duncan 
gives religious instruction, singing, and geography lessons in 
Tsimshean. The services on the Lord's day are well attended 
by reverent and devout worshippers. On the 3rd of Decem- 
ber, the day of prayer for Missions, a special prayer-meeting 
was held ; Mr. Tomlinson and Mr. Collison prayed in English, 
while four natives prayed in Tsimshean. At Fort Simpson 
the preaching of the Gospel by the Metlakatlah Indians has 
produced a marked change for the better. A select body of 
teachers take the Sunday by turns ; two proceeding every 
Saturday to Fort Simpson, staying over the Sunday, and 

1 



Recent Intelligence from Metlakatlah. 161 



returning to Metlakatlah on the Monday. They meet the 
Indians in a chief's house ; this chief has lately joined the 
settlement, but he left his house standing at Fort Simpson, to 
serve the purposes of these meetings. On Friday evenings 
Mr. Duncan spends some time with the teachers who are 
going to Fort Simpson, assisting them with the subjects they 
have chosen to preach upon. He says of them, " The spirit 
of wisdom and devotedness to the work w T hich the teachers 
manifest is indeed gratifying ; they receive no remuneration, 
though they are often four or five days aw r ay, whilst the 
severity of the weather often severely tests their devotion and 
endurance." 

At Christmas the heathen customs at Fort Simpson were, 
for the first time, generally disregarded. In order to encourage 
Christian customs in their place, all the congregation at Fort 
Simpson were invited to spend the festival of Christmas at Met- 
lakatlah, that they might benefit by a series of special services, 
and be preserved from falling into those excesses which might 
possibly have followed, had they been left to spend Christmas 
by themselves. Two hundred and fifty accepted the invita- 
tion ; they arrived at Metlakatlah on Christmas Eve in twenty- 
one canoes, with their flags flying. They all assembled in the 
market-house, at that time used for the church services. After 
they w r ere seated Mr. Duncan gave them a short address ; 
prayer followed, after which Mr. and Mrs. Collison and Mr. 
Duncan shook hands with them all. They w r ere then quartered 
round the village, and, says Mr. Duncan, " a very exciting 
scene ensued ; all the villagers literally scrambling for the 
guests. After the scramble several came running to me to 
complain that they had not succeeded in securing a single 

M 



162 



Day spring in the Far West. 



guest, while others had got more than their share, so I sent 
two constables round the village to readjust the distribution 
of our new friends. ,, 

Christmas Eve was spent in practising, with a band of twenty 
young men, a new Christmas hymn in Tsimshean. At 1.30 
a.m., Mr. Duncan and his band of young men reassembled, 
and, accompanied by Mr. Collison, they set out to sing round 
the village. The village was illuminated, and the singing 
hearty and solemn. This was the first attempt of the Indians 
at part-singing in their own tongue. 

On Christmas Day the houses were all decorated with ever- 
greens, flags waved in the breeze, and the constable and 
village council went from house to house in their uniforms 
greeting the inmates. " Everywhere friends were shaking 
hands, everybody greeted everybody, no one thought of any- 
thing but scattering smiles and greetings," till at length the 
church bell was heard, and then all assembled in the house of 
prayer to worship God. So great was the crowd of wor- 
shippers that it was necessary to assemble the children in the 
school-house, where a separate service was held for them. 
Even then the meeting-house was crowded to excess ; at least 
700 persons were present. Well might Mr. Duncan's heart 
overflow with joy. " What a sight ! " says he. " Had any one 
accompanied me to the Christmas Day services I held twelve 
or fourteen years ago at Fort Simpson, and again on this 
occasion, methinks, if an infidel, he would have been confused 
and puzzled to account for the change ; but if a Christian, his 
heart must have leaped for joy." The Tsimsheans might 
well sing on this day, " Glory to God in the highest, on earth 
peace, good will toward men." After service all the Indians 



Recent Intelligence from Metlakatlah. 163 



collected near the Mission-house to greet the Missionaries ; 
they were admitted by fifties at a time ; to each company Mr. 
Duncan gave a short address, and then he and Mr. Colliscn 
shook hands with all. It was 3 p.m. before the proceedings 
terminated. The following day the young men engaged in 
the game of football, and all the people turned out to witness 
the sport. After the game was over, a marriage took place. 
A young woman trained in the Mission-house was married 
to a chief. A marriage feast was given, to which between 
four and five hundred people were invited. During the day 
a Fort Simpson young man called on Mr. Duncan and con- 
fessed a crime of theft which he had committed a year and a 
half previously. In the evening divine service was held. 
Some little time after its conclusion the bugle sounded, " Go 
to bed." 

During the time the Fort Simpson people remained in the 
village, Mr. Duncan held special services every night. The 
following were the subjects on which he addressed them, viz. : 
" Thou shalt call His name Jesus !" " Thy word is a lamp," 
&c. " Understandest thou what thou readest?" " Ye must 
be born again." " Can the Ethiopian change his skin ? " 
" What shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? " " One 
thing is needful." " Give me thy hand ! " " Quit you like 
men." On New Year's Eve a midnight service was held. On 
every occasion the people attended and listened with eagerness 
to the word preached. On one evening, before the service, Mr. 
Duncan exhibited a magic-lantern to the Fort Simpson people, 
showing them scriptural views and the sufferings of martyrs. 

On New Year's Day, according to the usual custom, a 
general meeting was held for the transaction of village busi- 

M 2 



Day spring in the Far West. 



ness. All the males are expected to attend on these occasions, 
and only three or four were absent. The ten companies into 
which the males are divided, were first examined, after which 
Mr. Duncan addressed them on the affairs of the past year, 
and introduced the new settlers, who were seated in the middle 
of the room ; each one then came forward and made a decla- 
ration in the presence of the assembly to be a faithful member 
of the community, after which he was registered. Speeches 
were then made by some members of the village council, and 
then twenty of the Fort Simpson Indians made very interest- 
ing speeches, expressive of the new feelings which animated 
them, and the line of conduct which, with God's help, they 
meant to pursue for the future. The meeting was concluded 
by another address from Mr. Duncan. The assembly then 
adjourned to the open ground in front of the Mission-house. 
They stood in two companies, two cannons were fired, and 
then, with hats off, notwithstanding that it snowed hard, they 
sang " God save the Queen;" after which they dispersed. 
On the 2nd of January the Fort Simpson Indians took their 
departure. When they were ready to start, the church bell 
rang, and they paddled their canoes to the meeting-house 
which stands on the beach. Leaving their canoes, they 
listened to a short address and a concluding prayer. Then 
once more embarking in their canoes, they pushed off from 
the beach, a cannon was fired, and amid the ringing cheers of 
hundreds of voices they dashed off, paddling with all their 
might. In a few seconds they simultaneously halted, and 
returned as hearty cheers as they were receiving. The air 
rang with the double cheering ; caps, handkerchiefs, and flags 
waving, the guests departed. 



Recent Intelligence from Metlakatlah. 




Contrasting this scene with the one witnessed by Mr. 
Duncan soon after his arrival at Fort Simpson in 1857,, how 
truly wonderful is the change effected. What a marvellous 
testimony is this little Christian community to the power of 
the Gospel ! Well may the labourers in the mission field take 
courage and press on with renewed zeal, assured that their 
labour shall not be in vain. 

" Be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord ; and be strong, 
O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest, and be strong, all 
ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work, for I am with 
you, saith the Lord of Hosts. My Spirit remaineth among 
you, fear not." 




CHAPTER XV. 



THE GARDEN RIVER MISSION. 

Garden River Mission. — "Little Pine's " anxiety to see the Gospel 
preached to his tribe, living under British rule. 

N 1868, the Church Missionary Society commenced 
a Mission amongst the Chippeways in Canada 
proper ; the charge of this Mission was entrusted 
to the Rev. Edward Wilson, grandson of the late 
Bishop of Calcutta. The Mission Station was fixed at Sarnia, 
on the St. Clair River, which connects Lake Huron with Lake 
Erie. Commenced at first in the obscurity of a log hut, with 
but a scanty attendance of Indians, it progressed, until in 
1870 a neat little wooden church rose on the banks of the St. 
Clair, whose clear-toned bell summoned the Indians every 
Sabbath to worship the Lord in His House. The congregation 
then numbered fifty, while twenty Indian children attended 
the Sunday School, held between the services. It was hoped 
that from this point a chain of Missions might in time extend 
along the northern shores of Lakes Huron and Superior, thus 
connecting Canada with the Mission Stations of James' Bay. 

The Mission has since been transferred from Sarnia to Garden 
River, at the east end of Lake Superior. This is an excellent 
situation from whence to extend Mission work among the 




The Garden River Mission. 167 



surrounding heathen, for it is the centre of the district occupied 
by the Chippeways, and in summer there is railway communi- 
cation with all parts of the two great lakes, Huron and 
Superior. 

Sarnia and its out-station, Kettle Point, have been placed 
under the charge of a native pastor, the Rev. John Jacobs, 
who labours faithfully among the people. A new brick 
church has taken the place of the former wooden one, which 
now serves the purpose of a school, in the management of 
which Mr. Jacobs is aided by his sister. This church was 
opened for Divine worship by Bishop Hellmuth in September, 
1871. 

The Indian village connected with the Mission at Garden 
River is situated at the fork of the two rivers, St. Marie and 
Garden River, and is about twelve miles distant from Sault 
St. Marie, a white settlement of some 300 people. Here there 
is a nice little church, but no clergyman ; Mr. Wilson therefore 
holds a Sunday service there for the benefit of the white 
people, in addition to his two services for the Indians and 
half-breeds at Garden River. The Indian and half-breed 
population at Garden River numbers between 300 and 400 ; 
of these one half are under the influence of the Jesuit priests, 
while the other half are attached to the Church of England. 
They seem to be earnest-minded, and fully alive to the 
blessings attendant on Christianity. There are full congre- 
gations every Sunday, and a regular attendance at the Holy 
Communion. 

Garden River is 300 miles north of Sarnia, and during the 
winter is bound in with ice and snow, but in the summer 
Mr. Wilson hopes to pay periodical visits to his old flock. 



i68 



Day spring in the Far West. 



A Mission was commenced at Garden River some twenty 
years ago by the New England Company ; when they relin- 
quished the Mission, it was taken up by the Church Mis- 
sionary Society, on account of its being the very centre of the 
district occupied by the Chippeways. There is a nice little 
parsonage — a log building erected by the Indians themselves 
when Mr. Chance, their former Missionary, first went to live 
among them. It has hops clambering up the verandah, and quite 
a pretty little garden, with heartsease, roses, and polyanthus 
in front. The church stands close beside it — a whitewashed 
log building with good seats and fittings, though it possesses 
neither font nor Communion service. An ordinary basin placed 
on the Communion table is used for the baptisms. 

The Indians have set apart land for a Mission farm, and 
they are anxious to have an Industrial Institution, where 
their own children, and the children of other Indians on the 
lake may be taught and trained. 

With the view of promoting this step, the worthy old Chief 
of the Chippeways, " Little Pine," accompanied Mr. Wilson to 
Toronto in the summer of 1871. 

There he had opportunity afforded him of telling his own 
story at several public meetings, and about £60 was collected 
towards the establishment of the Institution. 

The account of this visit we will give in " Little Pine's " 
own words. Before doing so, let us describe him. He has a 
tall and dignified mien, and considerable physical energy, 
although he is approaching the venerable age of threescore 
and ten. Arrayed in his native costume, his head encircled 
with the skin of some wild animal, adorned with eagle's feathers, 
a white blouse, leather gaiters, reaching to his knees, fastened 



CHIEF " LITTLE PINE." 



The Garden River Mission. 



169 



round the legs with beaded bands, moccasins, and two large 
medals suspended from his neck, one bearing the effigy of 
George III., the other that of Queen Victoria on the one 
side, and the royal coat of arms on the other ; such is " Little 
Pine," the son of " Great Pine," — once a famous warrior of the 
Chippeway tribe. And the following is his story, as related 
in his own words : — 

"It was when the sucker moon rose (February), that 
the bad news came to us that our black-coat (Missionary 
was to be taken from us. I called our people together 
in the teaching wigwam, both men and women, and 
for a long time we sat and consulted what was to be 
done. It seemed a sad thing to us to lose our black- 
coat, who for many years had laboured faithfully among us, 
and had been as a father to us. We all said, ' It must not be ; 
our black-coat must not leave us ;' and we wrote a letter to 
the great black-coat (the Bishop) who lives in the big town 
(Toronto), and petitioned him to let our beloved minister stay 
and labour amongst us. The great black-coat wrote us back, 
answering that he was willing our pastor should remain, but 
he could not tell us for certain whether it would be so or not. 

"The weeks passed on, the day of prayer came round many 
times, and now the moon of flowers (May) rose, the winter was 
past, and spring had arrived. Our black-coat now told us 
that the time had come for him to leave us ; that there were 
other Indians, the Mohawks, away south on the Grand River, 
who called him to come and teach them, and he must now go. 
We were all very sad when he told us this, for we loved him 
much ; we loved his wife ; we loved his children, who were 
born on our land and had grown up together with our 



Day spring in the Far West. 



children. We could not bear to part with him ; but he told us 
he was called away, and that however much he might himself 
wish it, still he could not stay, and he hoped another Mis- 
sionary would soon be found to take his place. 

"At length one morning the fire ship (steamboat) arrived, 
and we assembled on the wharf to bid him farewell ; the young 
men fired their guns, and he departed from us. 

"Then we were sad in our hearts. When we met in the 
prayer wigwam (church) the next Sunday, there was no 
black-coat to teach us. One of our young men read prayers, 
another read from God's book, we sung hymns, and then my 
brother chief, Pahgudgenene (Man of the Desert), stood up to 
exhort the congregation. But his heart was full, he could 
not speak ; he only uttered a few words, and then his voice 
choked him. He sat down, and buried his face in his hands. 
We all wept. We were overcome with grief. And we had 
no teaching that prayer-day. 

" A few days after this we saw a sail-boat approach ; it came 
fast over the waters of the river. 

"We were indeed glad when we learned that a black-coat was 
on board. We knew who it was, for he had already visited us 
in passing. His English name was Wilson, but the Chippe- 
ways of Ahmujewunoong (Sarnia), with whom he lived as their 
minister, called him Puhkukahbun (Clear Daylight). He 
landed, and our young men helped him to carry his things 
up to the house. His wife was with him, and at this we were 
glad also. We hoped he had come to stop with us altogether, 
but he said 6 No,' he could not promise to do that ; he was 
only travelling from place to place among the Indians, so he 
could not stay long. 



The Garden River Mission. 



171 



" At length the time drew near for him to leave us. The 
raspberry moon had already risen, and was now fifteen days 
old (July 15th), and Wilson said he must go at once. 

" One day, while I was working in the bush, preparing bark 
troughs for next year's sugar-making, many thoughts were in 
my breast. All seemed gloomy and uncertain. This black-coat, 
Puhkukahbun, could make us no promise to remain with us ; 
he had been with us a short time, and now he was away again. 
I felt gloomy and without hope. 

" Suddenly, like the lightning darting across the sky, there 
came a thought into my breast. I thought, ' I also will go 
with him ; I will journey with this black-coat to where he is 
going ; I will see the great black-coat myself, and ask that 
Wilson may come and be our teacher ; and I will ask the 
great black-coat also to send us more teachers to the shores 
of the Great Chippeway Lake ; for why indeed are my poor 
brethren left so long in ignorance and darkness, with no one 
to instruct them ? Is it that Christ loves us less than His 
white children ? or is it that the Church is sleeping ? Perhaps 
I may arouse them ; perhaps I may stir them up to send us 
more help, so that the Gospel may be preached to my poor 
pagan brethren.' So I resolved to go. I did not think it 
necessary to call a council and inform my people that I was 
going ; I only just told my wife and a few friends of my 
intention. I felt that the Great Spirit had called me to go; 
and even though I was poor, and had but a few dollars in my 
pocket, still I knew that the Great God in heaven, to whom 
forty years ago I yielded myself up, would not let me want ; I 
felt sure that He would provide for my necessities. 

" So when Puhkukahbun and his wife stepped on board 



172 



Day spring in the Far West. 



the great fire ship, I stepped on also. I had not told him 
as yet what was my object in going, and at first he left me to 
myself, thinking, I suppose, that I was going on my own 
business. I was a stranger on board; no one knew me, no 
one seemed to care for me, I paid four dollars for my passage, 
but they gave me no food, not even a bed to lie upon. I felt 
cold in my heart at being treated so ; but I knew it was for 
my people that I had come, and I felt content, even though 
obliged to pass thirty hours without any food at all. 

"When we arrived at Sarnia, the fire waggons (railway cars) 
were almost ready to start ; so I still had to fast ; and not 
until we had started on our way to London (in Canada) did 
the black-coat know that I had been all that time without 
food. Then he was very sorry indeed, and from that time 
began to take great care of me, and I told him plainly what 
was my object in coming with him. 

" We arrived at Toronto on the sixth day of the week, when 
the raspberry moon was twenty-two days old. I was glad 
to see the great city again, for I had seen it first many years 
ago, when it was like a papoose (a baby), and had but few 
houses and streets. We went at once to the place where 
Wilson had agreed to meet the black-coats who have authority 
over the Indian Missions. 

"They all shook hands with me, and gave me a seat by the 
table. They talked a long time, and wrote a good deal on 
paper ; and I was glad to see them writing on paper, for now 
I thought something would be settled, and my journey will 
not have been in vain ; I was still more when they told me 
that they thought Wilson would come and be our Missionary 
and live among us. I said to them, ' Thank you, thank you 



The Garden River Mission. 



J 73 



greatly ! This is the reason for which I came. I thank you 
for giving me so good an answer, and now I am prepared to 
return again to my people.' 

" The black-coats then invited me to tell them all I had to 
say ; so I opened my heart to them and divulged its secrets. 
I said that at Ketegannesebe (Garden River) we were well 
content, for we had had the Gospel preached to us now for 
forty winters, and I felt that our religious wants had been 
well attended to ; but when I considered how great and how 
powerful are the English people, how rapid their advance, and 
how great their success in every work to which they put their 
hands, I wondered often in my mind, and my people wondered 
too, why the Christian religion had halted so long at Garden 
River, just at the entrance to the Great Lake of the Chippe- 
ways ; and how it was that forty winters had passed away, and 
yet religion slept, and the poor Indians of the Great Chippeway 
Lake pleaded in vain for teachers to be sent to them. 

" I said that we Indians know our Great Mother, the Queen 
of the English nation, is strong, and we cannot keep back her 
power, any more than we can stop the rising sun. She is 
strong ; her people are great and strong ; but my people are 
weak. Why do you not help us ? It is not good. I told the 
black-coats I hoped that before I died I should see a bigteaching 
wigwam built on Garden River, where children from the Great 
Chippeway Lake would be received and clothed and fed, and 
taught how to read and how to write ; and also how to farm and 
build houses, and make clothing ; so that by and by they might 
go back and teach their own people. I said I thought Garden 
River ought to be made the chief place from which religion 
might gradually go on, and increase, and extend year by year, 



174 



Day spring in the Far West. 



until all the poor ignorant Indians, in the great hunting 
grounds of the Chippeways, should enjoy the blessings of 
Christianity. 

" The black-coats listened to what I said, and they replied 
that their wish was the same as mine ; and they hoped that in 
due time I should see my desire effected. 

" Many were the thoughts that filled my mind at that 
time. As I walked along the streets of Toronto, and looked 
at the fine buildings, and stores full of wonderful and expen- 
sive things, the thought came into my breast, i How rich and 
how powerful are the English people ! Why is it that their 
religion does not go on and increase faster ? Surely they 
behave as though they were a poor people. When I entered 
the place where the speaking paper (newspaper) is made, I 
saw the great machines by which it is done, and the man who 
accompanied us pointed to a machine for folding up the papers, 
and said, 1 This is a new machine ; it has not long been in- 
vented !' and I thought then, 'Ah, that is how it is with the 
English nation ; every day they get more wise ; every day 
they find out something new. The Great Spirit blesses them, 
and teaches them all these things because they are Christians, 
and follow the true religion. Would that my people were 
enlightened and blessed in the same way f 

" The next day was the day of prayer, and I went to the 
big wigwam, where the children assemble to be taught (the 
Sunday School). I stood up and spoke to the children, and 
told them how much I desired that my children should be 
taught in the same way, and have such a beautiful wigwam to 
assemble in, where they might hear about God and His Son 
Jesus Christ. It rejoiced my heart to hear them sing, and I 



The Garden River Mission. 



175 



wished that my children could learn to sing hymns in the 
same manner. 

" After this I entered the great house of prayer (the 
Cathedral). I feel much reverence for that sacred building. 
I was in Toronto when the first one was there. Since that 
time it has been burnt down, and rebuilt, and then all burnt 
down again ; and yet now it stands here larger and grander 
than before. 'The white people,' I said to myself, ' have plenty 
of money to build this great house of prayer for themselves. 
If they knew how poor my people are, surely they would give 
more of their money to build a house for us, where our 
children may be taught.' I felt at home in this great house of 
prayer, though it is so large and so fine ; for the great white 
chief used to worship there, and I regarded it as the Queen's 
prayer-wigwam. I could not understand the words of the 
service, but my heart was full of thoughts on God ; and I 
thought how good a thing it was to be a Christian, and I 
rejoiced that I was a member of the Queen's Church, and had 
heard from its teachers of the love of Christ, who died for His 
red children as well as for the pale faces ; for He is not 
ashamed, as we know now, to call us brothers. 

" In the evening the man who writes for the speaking paper 
(the Toronto Telegraph reporter) came to see me. He said 
he was going to write about me in his paper, so that every- 
body might know who I was, and what I had come for. I 
thought this was good, for I wished everybody to know my 
reason in coming to Toronto, so that they might be stirred up 
to send help to my poor neglected brethren. This writing 
man put a great many questions to me. He asked me about 
my medals, and about our customs before I became a Christian, 



176 



Day spring in the Far West. 



and what I thought of the recent Indian outbreaks in the 
country of the Long-knives (the States). I thought many of 
his questions were not to the point, and I told him so. I said 
to him, ' When the white people read about me in your paper, 
I think they will say I am a fool/ 

" During the few days we remained in Toronto I was out 
nearly all the time with Puhkukahbun (Mr. Wilson), collect- 
ing money at the people's wigwams. It was he who proposed 
that we should do this. He said to me. i You want to see the 
Christian religion increase, and the pagan Indians on the 
Great Chippeway Lake to have school-houses and teachers. 
This cannot be done without money, so we must set to work 
and collect some/ I am an old man of seventy winters, and 
cannot walk about as much as I could when I was a young 
brave, so he got such a waggon as the rich people go about in 
there, and we drove from house to house. I thought some of 
the people were very good ; one woman gave us ten dollars, 
and several men also gave us ten dollars ; but many of the 
people gave us very little, and some would not give us any 
at all. 

" One evening the people of the big town assembled together 
in their great teaching wigwam to hear me speak. There 
were several black-coats on the platform, and Robinson was 
the leader (chairman). I told the people all that was in my 
heart, and appealed to them to help us. At the close of the 
meeting, the men took plates round for money. I watched 
the people giving ; the women gave the most. I think that 
women have more love for religion than men. They told me 
that the collection amounted to twenty-one dollars. I did 
not say anything, but the thought in my breast was, ' This is 



The Garden River Mission. 



177 



too little ; this is not enough to make religion increase.' I 
thought, 1 This is a big city ; there are plenty of rich people ; 
on ail sides are beautiful houses ; they have good and 
abundant food, — surely there must be a great deal of money 
in this big city/ " 

We here interrupt " Little Pine's " story in order to give his 
speech at the Toronto Missionary meeting, as taken down at 
the time by the reporter of the Toronto Daily Telegraph. 

" The chief, coming forward, said : ' Chairman, how do you 
do ? Ladies and gentlemen, I am glad to see you all. My 
friends, and you women, I am very glad to see you all. I 
have come to see you in order to say something to you. 
Nobody has employed me to come. I, although I am but a 
poor man, and the chief of the Chippeways, have come here 
on behalf of my people. I suppose you are all Christians, but 
I hope you all belong to the Queen's Church, and if you do, 
you will all do what is right. 

" First I will tell you how it was with me. When I was a 
little boy, when I was young, I never saw any Englishmen, 
only Indians. I think it was in this very moon forty-two years 
ago that I first saw a white man. I never saw a Christian till 
then. I grew up to be quite religious. By and by I had two 
children. At that time I first saw a clergyman ; he belonged 
to the Big-knives (Americans). He took the people and put 
them into the water. By and by there came along a French 
priest who baptized all the people he could, and said they 
would go to heaven. Three winters after that a Methodist 
preacher came along, and he seemed to worship God with all 
his heart. One year after that there arrived another preacher, 
and he said that he was a Church of England minister. He 



1 7 8 



Day spring in the Far West. 



came from Toronto. He remained one year, and he baptized 
the people, the same as the French priest. I was with him at 
church one Sunday, and after church he went away across the 
river. I thought a great deal of the white man. About a 
month after this, my father, who was chief at that time, said, 
" What shall we do about this religion ? We will go to 
Toronto, and see about it," and I immediately replied, " I will 
go with you." When we had gone so far as we could with our 
birch-bark canoes, we had to walk the rest of the way to 
Toronto. When we met Sir John Colborne, he said to my 
father and \o> me — " I am a Christian after the religion in the 
old country. Now you Chippeways, you follow the same 
religion as I follow." It is about forty years since these things 
happened. A young man was standing there beside us ; his 
name was McMurray. Sir John Colborne said that Mr. 
McMurray ought to become a Missionary. He did so, and he 
told us about the great God in heaven who watches over us 
and takes care of us, I am perfectly satisfied with the work 
that is going on at Garden River. I ask you, is not your 
Queen a great queen, and is not your country a great country, 
and your government a great government ? Then why does 
not the religious work increase as the other things do ? My 
friends, and my women, many years ago I was not the same 
man that I am now. I was in ignorance and poverty, but I 
have hunted, and I am now doing better. You, too, my 
friends, were many years ago in the same condition as I. 
Now see your great houses, and the fire waggons (railway 
trains). Why is not the Chippeway taught as you have been? 
Why is he not led in the same paths that you have been led ? 
I have come before you to plead the cause of my people, to 



The Garden River Mission. 



179 



ask you to give money to help us, that the Christian religion 
may spread away further to where the sun sets. This is the 
thought which is now in my breast, and which has led me to 
come before you to-night. The English are a great people. 
I feel satisfied about that. I have watched their progress 
ever since I was a young man, and I see how great they are ; 
and now I turn to these black-coats, and I ask, why does not 
the Christian religion increase as well as other things around 
me ? I could talk to you all night, but I think I have said 
enough, and so I will now leave you.'" 

Before resuming " Little Pine's Journal," we will place 
before our readers another address delivered by " Little Pine " 
at Hamilton, as he was returning to Garden River. 

" I have not much to say. The newspapers will have told 
you all. I look around me and see many women and children, 
but few men. I think it is because the women love me best. I 
think it is only 400 years ago when the Indians owned all this 
land. When the first white man came here, the Indian was 
spread all over the country. When the white man came, he 
carried a cup of fire-water with him. Those Indians who 
inherited the land when the white man first came, lived on 
the shores of the great sea ; I live on the inland sea. When 
the white man came the Indian had plenty to eat ; the rivers 
were full of fish ; the white man seized on all ; he took our 
fish ; he took our land and drove us back. My people are 
getting less and less every year, and what is the reason ? 
The white man has carried the fire-water among us and we 
are becoming less and less every year. If the white man, 
instead of carrying the cup of fire-water in his hand, had 
carried his book (the Bible), he w r ould have done well. Let 

N 2 



i8o 



Day spring in the Far West. 



me tell you about myself. The first Missionary I ever saw 
was when I was thirty years of age. He was an American. 
It is now about forty years since I went to Toronto with my 
father. My reason for coming was to inquire about religion. 
We wanted to see Sir John Colborne, to ask him what we were 
to do about religion. We came also to see the wonderful 
works of the white people — how they built their cities, towns, 
and houses. I am a member of the Church of England ; I 
think it right to belong to the Queen's Church, and I ask 
myself why they do not go on and build more churches. 
This thought entered into my breast. My desire was to see 
the Queen's Church carried on amongst my people. That was 
the reason of my coming here. The clergyman, who you 
know, Dr. McMurray, was the first who told me about Jesus 
coming on earth. He told me for the first time that the Son 
of God was called Jesus — that He came from heaven to save 
the Indian as well as the white man, if they would believe in 
Him. You who are Christians and work for the Church, I 
appeal to you to help me and my people, so that the Church 
may increase. I think of my poor children far away up in the 
north and west. I appeal to you as Christians, and because 
you now own the land that belonged to my fathers, and I have a 
right to ask you to help me in this cause. You children, boys 
and girls, who I see around me, you have been well taught. 
Think of my children and send help to them. Already I have 
said in Toronto that I hold the English in veneration. I will 
say more : mark well, I say now, the Indian land that once 
belonged to us, now belongs to the English, and is English 
land. Wherever I go, in travelling about, I see the Queen's 
flag, and I think how strong is the Queen of England and the 



The Garden River Mission. 



181 



English nation. I feel how strong is the English nation — no 
other nation has power to do anything against them. It is 
because you are so strong as a nation that I have a right to 
appeal to you to help me. This book I hold in my hand, I 
cannot read it. I cannot speak English. I hope the children 
before me will not be kept in ignorance like me. Englishmen 
and Englishwomen, if you have understood what I have said 
to-night, I am glad ; I shall feel I have not come in vain and 
visited you. This is the reason I left my home to visit 
Toronto and here, and am now on my way back to Garden 
River. This is the last time I shall have the opportunity to 
speak to my white brethren ; I go home, and shall only see 
my own people. We are one, my friends, in religion. God is 
God of the Indian as w r ell as of the white man; we are all 
made one in the Christian religion. Now, before I go, it is 
my desire that some of you should say a few words to me, so 
that I can carry them to my people at Garden River. This is 
all I have to say, and I ask you sometimes to think of me and 
of my people. Before I sit down, I speak the last words to 
you children on both sides of me. The last word I can say to 
them is that they may be well educated, and the last thing I 
do is to leave the beaver-skin to lie here in this school-house, 
so that you will remember me." It need scarcely be said that 
" Little Pine " exerts himself in every possible way to spread 
amongst his people the knowledge of that Saviour whom he 
loves, and to whom (to use his own words) "he yielded 
himself up forty years ago." 

After his address, "Little Pine" was asked to explain the 
meaning of the feathers on his head. He replied : " I also 
will ask you one question. Why were these medals " (pointing 



1 82 



Day spring in the Far West. 



to those on his breast) "given to me ? I know very well. One 
the Queen's son gave me at Sarnia ; what it was given to me 
for I don't know. You ask me why I wear these feathers ? 
It is that I am a Chippeway chief! The feathers I wear on 
my head denote the number of warriors my father killed ; 
the skunk skin I wear round my head, I wear in defiance of 
my enemies, and where is the man whc will pluck it from me ? 
You all know the stone column at Queenstown (meaning Brock's 
monument) ; my father fought with S ; r Isaac Brock, and this 
medal was given to him for bravery in battle." " Little Pine " 
further explained on this occasion, that he did not appeal on 
behalf of the whole tribe, but only for those of his people who 
were living under the flag of England. In the justice of this 
appeal, we think our readers will concur. 

And now we resume " Little Pine's" own account of his visit 
Toronto. 

" I was very anxious to see McMurray, the black-coat 
who first taught our people the Christian religion many 
winters ago. So the day after the meeting we crossed the 
lake to Niagara, and I was rejoiced in my heart to see him once 
more, and to shake hands with him and with his wife, who is 
one of our nation ; and now I had only one thing more to do 
before I returned again to my own wigwam at Garden River, 
and that was to visit our black-coat Chance on the river of the 
Mohawks. I wished to shake hands with him, and I wished 
to see his wigwam, and mark the spot in my mind, so that I 
should be able to find him if at any future day I might w r ant 
to see him. I told the black-coat McMurray what my 
desire was, and then he and Wilson talked together in the 
English tongue, and presently McMurray said to me, 'The 



The Gar dm River Mission. 



183 



black-coat Wilson thinks it is not good for you to go home 
too fast. Between this place and Chance's wigwam there are 
two big towns which you must pass through, and the black- 
coat Wilson wishes you to stop a day or two at each, so that 
you may speak to the people and rouse them up, and collect 
a little more money. I also think myself that the plan is 
good, and advise you to listen to his words.' 

" I replied that my reason for wishing to hasten home was 
that I might cut the hay, so that my cows might have food to 
eat in winter, and I feared it might be too late if I delayed 
much longer ; still, if it was necessary for me to do so, I would 
consent. So, instead of going at once to see the black-coat 
Chance, we journeyed a short distance only, and arrived at 
an inland town (St. Catherine's), where was a spade-dug 
river (the Wellond Canal), and plenty of sail ships and fire 
ships. 

"At the feeding wigwams (hotels) in this town they did not 
seem to like us very well, and from two of them we were 
turned away. I did not know the reason, but I thought in 
my mind, ' These people are not the right sort of Christians, 
or they would not refuse us shelter.' 

" The black-coat in this town (Rev. H. Holland) was very 
good to us indeed. We were, both of us, strangers to him, 
and yet he received us as if we were old friends. He invited 
us to his wigwam, and we drank tea with his wife and 
daughters. 

" This black-coat's wife seemed to me to be a very good 
woman, and full of love. She told me that she came from a 
far country, many days' journey distant to the South, beyond 
the Big-knives' land, where the sun is very hot, and the land 



Day spring in the Far West. 



inhabited by strange Indians. I thought it was because she 
came from this far country that she was different from the 
women who lived here, and perhaps it was her having known 
these strange Indians long ago that made her so good to me 
now. She gave me money to buy a shawl for my wife, and 
my heart warmed towards her ; I tried to think what present 
I could make to her, and I told her I had a beaver-skin with 
me, which I always carried to put under my feet when I sat, 
or to lie upon at night. This I wished to give her if she would 
accept it, but she would not take it. She said that I should 
want it, and although I pressed her again to have it, still she 
refused. 

"The day after our arrival at the inland town, where sail ships 
and fire ships are plenty, we hired a little waggon, and went 
from wigwam to wigwam, asking the white people for money 
to help Christianity to spread on the shores of the Chippeway 
Lake. Some opened their purses and gave us a little money, 
but most of the people seemed too busy with their buying and 
selling, and other employments, to listen to us ; and even 
though they belonged to the Queen's Church, still they did 
not seem to care much about our poor Indians in the far 
North. One selling wigwam, especially, I remember, into 
which we entered three times, and each time waited a long 
time to be heard, and saw much money thrown into a money- 
box, and yet, after all our waiting, they would only give half 
a dollar to help Christianity to spread on the shores of the 
Chippeway Lake. 

" In the evening of the same day the white people gathered 
together in the teaching wigwam to hear what I had to say to 
them. After the meeting a collection was made, but it was 



The Garden River Mission. 



185 



too little money. There were several plates, but they only 
contained twelve dollars. 

" If Jesus loves His red children as you say and believe He 
loves the white people, did He not give His life for them ; and 
is that all that they will give to help to tell our poor Indian 
people, away on the Great Chippeway Lake, of His love? 
Religion will not increase unless the white people give more. 

" On the second day of the week, early in the morning, we 
entered the fire waggon to go to the river of the Mohawks. 
The black-coat Wilson said he must leave me now, and go 
straight to Ahmujewunoong ; and that after I had visited 
Chance in his wigwam, I must follow and meet him again. 
So when we came to a place where there were many fire 
waggons (Paris), the black-coat led me to another fire waggon, 
which stood there, and told me that it was going to the great 
river of the Mohawks, and then he left me to go on my way 
alone. 

" When I arrived at the river of the Mohawks (Brantford), I 
felt strange and puzzled, having no one now to guide me, and 
I saw no face that I knew, neither could I speak English. 
But Wilson had given me a paper with words written on it ; 
and this I showed to two men upon the road. They beckoned 
me to come with them, but I thought they had been drinking, 
and I walked away. Then I saw a woman sitting alone in a 
waggon, and I showed her my paper. She was very good to 
me, and told me to get in, and she drove me to the house of 
the black-coat who is the teacher of the Indian people on the 
river of the Mohawks. The black-coat (Rev. A. Nelles) was 
very good to me, and gave me food ; and after about two 
hours he told me to get into the waggon, and a man got in 



i86 



Day spring in the Far West. 



too, and drove me to Chance's wigwam. It was a long way, 
and the man did not seem to know well which way to go, for 
he kept stopping and speaking to the people all the time. 
When we got to the wigwam I knocked at the door, and 
knocked again several times. At length the black-coat 
Chance heard me, and came to open the door, and I was 
greatly rejoiced to see him again once more, and his wife and 
children. 

"When the day came for me to leave, the black-coat Chance 
took me in his waggon to the place where the fire waggons 
start, and sent a wire message to Wilson to be ready to meet 
me when I arrived. I sat in the fire waggon and smoked my 
pipe, and rejoiced in my mind that my work was now over, 
and I should soon return to my people. For many hours I 
travelled, and the sun had already sunk in the West, and I 
thought I must be nearly arrived at Ahmujewuhnoong, when 
the fire waggon chief came to look at my little paper ; and 
then he looked at me and shook his head, and I understood 
I had come the wrong way. Presently the fire waggon 
stopped, and the chief beckoned me to get out, and he pointed 
to the West, and made signs, by which I understood that I 
must now wait for the fire waggons going towards sun-rising, 
and in them return part of the way back. By and by the 
fire waggons approached, coming from where the sun had set, 
and a man told me to get in. It was midnight when I reached 
London, and they let me go into the wire-house and lie down 
to sleep. I slept well all night, and early in the morning a 
man beckoned to me that the fire waggons were ready to start 
to Sarnia, and showed me which way to go. 

"Thus I at length got back to Sarnia, and was glad to lie 



The Garden River Mission. 



i8 7 



down and rest in Wilson's wigwam ; and how I am waiting 
for the fire ship to come, and as soon as it comes I shall go on 
board, and return straight back to my people. The black- 
coat Wilson has asked me to let him write down all this that 
I have told him, so that it may be made into a book, and be 
read by everybody. And I hope that by and by all the 
white people will see this book, and that their hearts will be 
warmed towards the poor ignorant Indians who live on the 
shores of the Great Chippeway Lake. 

" We have collected 300 dollars, but 300 dollars is not enough 
to make religion increase. If we had but the worth of one of 
those big wigwams of which we saw so many in Toronto, I 
think it would be enough to build a big teaching wigwam at 
Garden River, in which the children would be taught and 
clothed and fed, and enough to send teachers also to the 
shores of the Great Chippeway Lake. I must have some- 
thing done for my people before I die ; and if I cannot get 
what I feel we ought to have from the great chiefs in this 
country, I am determined to go to the far distant land across 
the sea, and talk to the son of our great mother, the Prince of 
Wales, who became my friend when he gave me my medal, 
and I believe will still befriend me if I tell him what my 
people need." 

This resolution " Little Pine," as many of our readers are 
aware, has carried out ; he came to England with Mr. Wilson 
in 1872, and was greatly encouraged by his success in obtain- 
ing ^743 out of the £1000 required to start the Industrial 
Institution. He sailed from our shores confidently hoping 
that God will open the hearts of the English people to supply 
the needful funds. 



i88 



Day spring in the Far West. 



The Church Missionary Society have since deemed it right 
to withdraw from this Mission, but pecuniary aid was not 
withdrawn until funds had been raised from other sources for 
the continuance of the work. Mr. Wilson, at the urgent 
solicitation of " Little Pine," and acting on the advice of 
many friends, decided to remain at his post, believing, as he 
says, " If we work faithfully, and take all prudent steps for 
securing our ends, at the same time prayerfully waiting on 
God, the way will gradually open out clearly." 

Nor did Mr. Wilson and the Chippeway Chief work and 
wait in vain ; the necessary funds were raised, the industrial 
school was built, and on September 22nd, 1873, it was opened. 
Fifteen children were admitted, and eight more were shortly 
expected ; but five days later, a terrible calamity occurred. On 
the night of Saturday, September 27th, Mr. Wilson and his 
family were awakened by a cry of fire ; Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, 
with their servants and four children wrapped in blankets, took 
refuge in the church. Mr. Wilson rang the church bell to arouse 
the Indians ; by the time help came, the church was in danger ; 
so once more taking up the children, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson fled 
to the Roman Catholic Mission House ; the priest received 
them hospitably, and kindly supplied their wants. Returning 
to the scene of the disaster, Mr. Wilson counted the Indian 
children : all were safe. The Garden River children were sent 
home, while the others found shelter in a neighbouring house- 
The church was saved, but the Mission House and industrial 
school, with its boot-making and carpentering shop, and all 
the furniture, clothing, and library, a piano also and har- 
monium, the gifts of friends, were burnt. On the Monday 
following, the Indians held a council, when they asked Mr. 



The Garden River Mission. 



Wilson " whether he felt weak or strong about it, whether he 
could collect money to rebuild, or whether he should give up 
the Mission ?" He replied that " he would wait on God till he 
saw the way/' and the way was made plain. Fresh efforts 
were made, and the God in whom the Missionary trusted 
crowned those efforts with success. 

Intelligence has just reached England that Lord Dufferin, 
the Governor-General of the Dominion of Canada, laid the 
foundation stone of a new industrial home on the 3©th of July, 
1874. The home now in course of erection is intended to 
accommodate eighty children, who, besides receiving Christian 
instruction, will be brought up to useful trades. The out- 
buildings and a commodious workshop are already completed, 
and are being used until the house is ready to receive its 
inmates. 

It is hoped that, before the winter sets in, the home will be 
opened. Garden River is now included in the recently formed 
diocese of Algoma in the Dominion of Canada, and an earnest 
desire is manifested by the Canadians to fulfil the obligations 
which the white man owes to the Indian. In the speech 
made by Lord Dufferin on the occasion of laying the founda- 
tion stone of the industrial home, he spoke thus : " We are 
bound to remember that we are under the very gravest 
obligations towards our Indian fellow-subjects. In entering 
their country, and requiring them to change their aboriginal 
mode of life, we incur the duty of providing for their future 
welfare, and of taking care that, in no respect whatsoever, are 
their circumstances deteriorated by changes which are thus 
superinduced." "The erection of this Missionary Diocese," 
says the Church Herald, a Canadian paper, "has not been 



190 



Day spring in the Far West. 



made a day too soon : settlements are forming throughout this 
vast region which ought to be occupied at once, but men and 
means are wanting. The Bishop therefore should devote the 
winter to visiting the towns and villages of the Dominion, and 
by his Christian advocacy and personal influence, open foun- 
tains of beneficence that would prove a source of support to 
his Missions for years to come." 

The Chippeway Indians of North-West Canada are in a 
degree civilized ; they know something of the Gospel of 
Christ, but they still need to be watched over and cared for, 
and taught to help themselves, and to be helped in building 
up their native church, and let us not withhold the bread of 
life from those who are hungering for it. 

" Freely we have received, let us freely give." 

" Large, England, is the debt 
Thou owest to heathendom ; 
All seas have seen thy red-cross flag 
In war triumphantly displayed ; 
Late only hast thou set thy standard up 
On pagan shores in peace/' 

S out key's Ode to Bishop Heber. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



CONCLUSION. 




ND now our pleasant task is ended. We have en- 
deavoured to place before our readers a picture of 
Missionary work in British North America. Vast 
as is the territory, and small as is the number of 



labourers in the field, much has been accomplished ; from the 
shores of Lake Superior on the South, to the Arctic Ocean on 
the North — from Hudson's Bay on the East, to the Pacific on 
the West, a network of Missions extends. Little communities 
of Christian Indians are found here and there scattered over 
the continent ; no longer living in heathen darkness and 
degradation, they are rising into the enjoyment of the com- 
forts of civilized life. Formerly they carried the ravages of 
war into each others territories ; now they live in peace. 
Once they were addicted to every kind of cruelty ; now they 
abound in acts of tenderness and affection. Once they were 
indolent ; now they are active and industrious. At one time 
they were lawless; now they live in subordination to authority. 
Once their lands w r ere uncultivated, and yielded not their 
produce; now they smile with plenty. The once sullen 
features of the savage now beam with intelligence and joy; 



192 



Day spring in the Far West. 



the hand that held the murderous weapon now grasps the 
Bible ; the arms once stretched forth in violence are now 
extended in the attitude of supplication to God ; the voice 
that uttered frantic wailings for the dead, or joined in the 
hideous war cry, now sings of redeeming love, and tells of joys 
begun on earth to be completed in heaven. The heart, once 
the stronghold of superstition and fear, is now inspired with 
hope and filled with gladness ; death is no longer the object 
of terror ; it is regarded as the passage to glory. What a 
triumphant proof do these things afford of the redeeming 
power of the Gospel, and its heavenly origin. How does it 
carry forward our thoughts to the time when mankind shall 
have become one vast brotherhood ; one in heart, one in faith, 
one in hope, separated from each other in body, not in affec- 
tion, by the rivers and mountains, oceans and seas, which lie 
between them. When the worship of idols shall perish and 
be forgotten, the hymn of praise shall be wafted to heaven on 
the breezes of the ocean, and rise from the solitude of the 
desert. Then shall the Sabbath be everywhere solemnized, 
and the name of Jesus everywhere adored. The commerce of 
the nations shall be holiness to the Lord. Sin shall be 
subdued, error banished. The countless millions of the 
world's ransomed population shall worship at the Saviour's 
feet ; their joyful song shall rise in strains of melody. There 
shall be " Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and 
goodwill towards men." 

Yet how much remains to be done ; " the fields are white 
unto the harvest, but the labourers are few." It must, we 
think, be admitted that England has not, as a nation, been 
faithful to her trust. How large a debt of gratitude does she 



Conclusion. 



193 



not owe to the Church Missionary Society, in having sent the 
Gospel to the distant lands that own her sway, and from 
which she draws a vast amount of wealth ? And not only has 
the Gospel been carried to the heathen by this agency, but 
the means of grace have been placed within the reach of 
multitudes who have already gone forth, or are even now 
going forth, to found homes and make fortunes in the " Far 
West." As the Indian retreats before the advancing tide of 
emigration, the churches originally erected for the use of the 
natives have passed on to English congregations, and have 
become part of the church organization of the colony. The 
establishment of Sees, thus providing chief pastors to preside 
over the flocks scattered over British territory, who may 
direct, counsel, and aid the ministers of the Church of 
England, is largely due to the Church Missionary Society. 
But for the efforts which it has put forth, that fine territory, so 
soon to be peopled with our own race, would still be lying in 
heathen darkness : the settlers now going forth would have 
no church in which to worship the God of their fathers — no 
Christian minister to visit and console the sick and the dying; 
none of those privileges, alas ! so little valued in our own land, 
and yet so sorely missed by the sons and daughters of 
England who, leaving behind them Christian homes, find 
themselves in a land where Satan still holds undisputed sway, 
and where the minds of their children are liable to be con- 
taminated by intercourse with heathen servants. Is it not an 
inestimable blessing, Christian parents, to know that in sending 
forth those very dear to you, they go to a land over which the 
light of the Gospel has shed its cheering rays, where the sound 
of the church-going bell will remind them of the sacred 

O 



194 



Day spring in the Far West. 



obligations of the Sabbath ? where the minister of Christ may 
perchance speak some word in season to one unspeakably- 
precious to you, over whom your heart yearns, and for whose 
spiritual welfare you pour out supplications to God ? If such 
are our obligations, shall we be slow to acknowledge them ? 
or give with a niggard hand ? Is it not a glorious privilege 
to aid in extending the kingdom of our Lord and Master ? 
" Cast thy bread upon the waters, and thou shalt find it after 
many days." Perchance it may be found where least expected. 
Alone in a distant land, an English youth lay dying ; no kind 
relative was near to minister tenderly to his wants, to breathe 
into his ear precious words of hope and consolation. The 
tidings of his death, under circumstances so sad and 
solitary, filled the hearts of loving friends with deep sorrow. 
How grievous was it to them to think that one so dear had 
passed away, with none to tell of the love of Jesus, and to 
soothe his dying moments with hopes of heaven ; but he was 
not so left. Ere long, tidings reached them that one had 
ministered by that dying bed. The message, " God so loved 
the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoso- 
ever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life," had fallen with sweet and soothing influence on the heart 
of him so soon to pass through the gate of death, and lit up 
his eye with a bright gleam of hope, as he beheld through the 
eye of faith the home prepared for all who, believing in the 
Lord Jesus Christ, bring the burden of their sin and guilt to 
" the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness." He who thus 
ministered the word of life by that dying bed was a little boy, 
once a ragged wayfarer in the streets : rescued by the hand of 
benevolence, trained to habits of industry, instructed in the 



Conclusion. 



195 



Word of God, he was sent forth to earn an honourable living ; 
he proved to be indeed a son of consolation ; he held up 
Christ to his dying master, and the dawn of heaven's morning 
shone through the gloom of the shadow of death. Truly the 
bread cast upon the waters was found, and is it to be doubted 
that in some such manner the seed sown in the hearts of the 
heathen in distant lands does often return in blessing to 
the sower ? Only in the last Great Day will it be known in 
how large a measure the Lord returns the blessing to the 
giver. Great will be the joy and wonder of the faithful 
steward when he shall recognize how graciously the Master 
whom he served has acknowledged and rewarded his service. 
All, even the youngest and the poorest, in whose heart glows 
the love of Christ, have it in their power to help in this 
glorious work. Think not, dear reader, it is money alone 
which is needed ; your prayers are needed. In this way all 
can help : the invalid on her couch of suffering, debarred from 
active service, may bring down showers of blessing on the 
labours of the devoted men who go forth to bear the toil and 
heat of the day in the Master's vineyard. The little child at 
its mother's knee, looking up in loving confidence to its Father 
in heaven, and asking Him to bless those dearest to it on 
earth, may also ask a blessing for the little ones not yet 
gathered into the fold of the Good Shepherd, but who shall 
one day shine in the diadem of the Redeemer. 

Some can give more than this — their time, or some portion 
of it ; willing fingers may work, loving hearts may plan some 
device by which they may lend a helping hand, and thus 
manifest by deeds that they do truly love the Lord who 
bought them with His blood. 

O 2 



196 Day spring in the Far West. 



In a former chapter it was observed that the Mission on the 
Pacific Coast completes the zone of Missions with which the 
Church Missionary Society has now encircled the world ; from 
Japan, in the extreme east, to the Pacific Ocean on the west, 
the joyful sound of the Gospel has reached. "This Gospel of 
the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness 
unto all nations, and then shall the end come." And in this 
fulfilment of our Lords words, the loving disciple of the 
Master cannot fail to find a powerful incentive to increased 
exertion. 

Have we received the Gospel into our hearts ? have we felt 
the blessedness of guilt removed ? of fear swallowed up in 
love ? Is God our reconciled Father in Christ ? Does the peace 
of God which passeth understanding dwell in our hearts ? Is 
the Holy Spirit our Abiding Comforter, the Sanctifier of our 
hearts ? Do we look for an abundant entrance into the many 
mansions prepared for believers, when death shall summon us 
hence ? Do we look for a glorious resurrection, when the 
body, clothed in immortal beauty, shall be reunited with the 
seraphic spirit ? Do we hope to share the eternal and blissful 
communion of the redeemed ? Do we long to behold the 
Saviour in the unveiled Majesty of His person, and think with 
eager and earnest expectation on the bliss of yielding to Him 
a sinless service throughout the countless ages of eternity ? 
And can we, knowing that the time is short, slumber on the 
battle-field ? " Let us not sleep as do others." Unseen 
powers are marshalling their array ; already the conflict has 
begun, which shall end in the glorious triumph of the 
Redeemer. 

And blessed are they who, fighting under His banner, shall 



Conclusion. 



197 



be found faithful unto the end. " Their eyes shall see the 
King in His beauty ; they shall behold the land that is very 
far off." Who can form even a faint conception of the rapture 
which shall swell the hearts of the great multitude, which no 
man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, 
and tongues, who shall stand before the Lamb, clothed with 
white robes, and palms in their hands ? For " eye hath not 
seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of 
man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love 
Him." 

" Where are the soldiers of the Cross, 
Sworn to be faithful to their Lord ? 
Why do they not count all things loss, 
Go boldly forth, and preach the Word ? 

e< Lord, shalt Thou call for help in vain ? 
*' Who will go for me ? ' dost Thou cry ? 
Oh ! let me hear Thy voice again : 
Tell me, my Saviour, is it I ? 

" Must I arise, must I gird on 
The Missionary sword and shield ? 
Must I, the frail and fearful one, 
Go forth to such a battle-field ? 

" Yes, I must sacrifice repose 
To His command who reigns above, 
And labour for the souls of those 
Who have not known His dying love ! 

" My friends and home I leave behind. 
And nature's tenderest ties are riven ; 
I hope a better home to find, 
And friends to meet again in heaven. 



198 



Day spring in the Far West. 



" Only Thy Spirit, Lord, impart, 
And let Thy presence with me go ; 
Then confidence shall fill my heart ; 
And banish fear of all below." 



APPENDIX I. 



PRESENT STATE OF THE NORTH-WEST 
AMERICAN MISSIONS. 

The vast territories over which the North-West American Mission 
Stations of the Church Missionary Society, referred to in the foregoing 
pages, are scattered, are now divided into four dioceses. We therefore 
arrange them accordingly in the following brief statement of their present 
position. 

[N.B. Metlakatlah and Kincolith, in the diocese of British 
Columbia, are not included in this enumeration ; they belong 
to the i; North Pacific Mission," and the latest intelligence 
respecting them has been already given. Garden River, in 
the diocese of Algoma, has ceased to be connected with the 
Church Missionary Society, as already stated.] 

L DIOCESE OF RUPERT'S LAND. 

The old " Red River " district, now the Province of Manitoba, is rapidly 
becoming a well-peopled and civilized colony. The four Church [Mission- 
ary Society stations are regularly organized parishes of Christian Indians 
and half-breeds, who, to a considerable extent, support their own parochial 
institutions ; and ere long these will be doubtless absorbed into the 
Colonial Church, which is growing and prospering under the zealous care 
of the excellent Bishop of Rupert's Land, Dr. Machray. St. Clement's, 
Mapleton, is still under the charge of Archdeacon Cowley, the oldest of 
the Missionaries, and Senior Secretary of the whole Mission ; St. Peter's, 
Indian Settlement, of the Rev. John Mackay (who has just exchanged 
with the Rev. H. Cochrane) ; and St. Mary's, La Prairie, of the Rev. 
Henry George. The fourth, St. Andrew's, has been, up to this time, 
served by the Rev. John Grisdale ; but he has just been appointed by the 



200 Appendix. 



Bishop Professor of Systematic Theology in St. John's College, to which 
office is attached a canonry in the cathedral. He will thus have an 
important share in the training of native Clergy and Catechists for the 
North- West American Missions generally ; and, being resident at Winni- 
peg, he will also conduct those secretarial duties for the Church Mis- 
sionary Society which are most conveniently performed at the capital of 
the province. The Rev. R. Young, late C. M. S. Association Secretary 
in Yorkshire, will shortly go out to take charge of St. Andrew's. 

Scanterbury is again under the charge of the Rev. J. Settee, Native 
Pastor, who was absent for a time, endeavouring to establish a Mission at 
Nelson River. 

In the eastern part of the diocese, the Rev. Baptiste Spence, Native 
Pastor, is still at Islington ; and a Native Catechist at Lansdowne. 
The Rev. R. Phair, who formerly worked in this district, has lately gone 
out again to establish a new Mission somewhat further eastward, at Fort 
Francis, in the Rainy Lake district, midway between Red River and Lake 
Superior. There are a good many Indians yet unevangelized in this 
neighbourhood, although it is actually the nearest part of Rupert's Land 
to Canada. 

Westward from Red River, in the Swan River district, the Rev. George 
Bruce, a native Clergyman, continues at Fairford, and one or two 
Catechists occupy the out-stations. Touchwood Hills station, the centre 
of a considerable wandering Indian population, has just been reoccupied, 
the Rev. J. Reader having arrived from England for that purpose. 

Turning northward we come to Devon, the centre of the Cumberland 
district, where the veteran native Missionary, the Rev. Henry Budd, is 
still faithfully labouring, and still further to the north, to the English 
River district, where the Rev. Henry Cochrane is now stationed, having 
exchanged posts with the Rev. John Mackay. 

The last returns for the above-named Mission-stations, give the number 
of native Christians in connexion with them as follows : — 



Red River and adjoining Districts : — 

Native Christians .3114 

Communicants 728 

Cumberland and English River Districts : — 

Native Christians 950 

Communicants . . . . . . .271 



Present State of the Missions. 20 r 



II. DIOCESE OF SASKATCHEWAN. 

The vast territory extending westward from the Province of Manitoba 
to the Rocky Mountains, which is watered by the two great rivers, the 
North and South Saskatchewan, has lately been formed into a separate 
diocese, of which Archdeacon McLean, who was for sometime Warden of 
St. John's College, at Winnipeg, is the first Bishop. Much yet remains 
to be done for the evangelization of the Indian tribes in this diocese. 
The only existing C. M. S. station is at Nepowewin, at the junction of the 
two rivers, of which the Rev. Luke Caldwell, native pastor, is in charge. 
An English lay agent, Mr. T. Hines, however, has recently been located 
at Green Lake, in the northern part of the country, with a view to making 
known the Gospel among the Plain Indians there, who are among the 
least settled and most demoralized in the whole continent. 

The Native Christians connected with Nepowewin station are included 
in' the Red River statistics given above. 

III. DIOCESE OF MOOSONEE. 

This diocese comprises the wide and thinly-populated territories 
encircling Hudson's Bay. Bishop Horden is at his old station, Moose 
Factory, at the southern extremity of James' Bay. The out-stations, 
Brunswick, Flying Post, Matawakumme, Matachewan, Rupert's House, 
East Main, Little Whale River, and Nitchikwun, are ministered to by 
native Catechists. 

At Albany, the next principal station on the coast to the north-west, 
the Rev. T. Vincent, a country-born Clergyman, continues his labours ; 
and he, from time to time, visits some of the above-named out-stations of 
Moose. 

The Rev. W. W. Kirkby is at York Factory, still further north ; and 
the most remote of all the stations in this diocese, Fort Churchill, is 
visited by him in alternate years with the inland station of Trout Lake. 

The last figures for this diocese are, — 



James' Bay District : — 

Native Christians . . 1985 

Communicants 239 

York Factory District: — 

Native Christians . . . . . * . . .170 
Communicants 61 



202 



Appendix. 



IV. DIOCESE OF ATHABASCA. 

The vast country stretching from English River northward to the Polar 
Sea, comprising the immense basin of the Mackenzie River, and an 
extensive district beyond the Rocky Mountains, forms this new diocese, 
for which the Rev. W. C. Bompas, whose Missionary journeys are 
described at some length in the present volume, has lately been conse- 
crated the first Bishop. In the early part of this year (1874), on ly two 
Clergymen could be found in this enormous area, viz., the Rev. R. 
McDonald at Fort Youcon, the most distant of all the Missionary stations, 
and the Rev. W. D. Reeve at Fort Simpson, which will be the head 
quarters of the diocese. But Bishop Bompas has now returned thither, 
taking with him the Rev. A. J. Shaw, who will be stationed at Fort 
Vermilion, on the Peace River ; and five or six Catechists and School- 
masters, trained at St. John's College, Winnipeg, are to be located at 
various central points convenient for gathering the scattered Indians 
together, but at great distances apart. 



Statistics of the Mackenzie River District:— 

Native Christians 

Communicants 



73 2 
40 



APPENDIX II. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF EVENTS 

CONNECTED WITH 

THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY'S MISSIONS IN 
NORTH-WEST AMERICA. 

RED RIVER. 

1820. Rev. J. West sent out as chaplain to the Hudson's Bay Company with instructions to act 

also as a Missionary amongst the Red Indians. 
Two native boys entrusted to Mr. West to be educated at Red River. 

1821. Mr. West commenced the formation of an establishment for the education of native youths. 

1822. The Church Missionary Society decided to commence a Mission at Red River, and 

appointed the Rev. David Jones to go out to the settlement. 

1823. Rev. D. Jones arrived at Red River. 
Rev. J. West returned to England. 

A small wooden church erected, afterwards called the Upper Church. 

1825. A second church erected by Mr. Jones io miles lower down the River, afterwards called 

the Middle Church. 
The Rev. W. and Mrs. Cockran joined the Mission. 
Severe famine in the settlement. 

1826. Great flood, partially destroyed the Mission buildings. 

1829. Mr. Cockran settled at the Grand Rapids 15 miles below the Upper Church. 

1831. Mr. Cockran erected a church at the Grand Rapids. 

1832. The Communicants in this year numbered 148. 

1833. Mr. Cockran commenced the formation of an Indian Missionary village 13 miles below the 

Grand Rapids. 

1 837. A church erected at the Missionary village, capable of holding 200 persons. 

1838. Mr. Jones returned to England in broken health. 

1839' Rev. J. Smithurst arrived in the settlement, and took charge of the Missionary village. 
1840. A new Mission commenced at Cumberland Lake. Henry Budd, one of the two boys 

entrusted to Mr. West in 1820, sent to establish the Mission. 
1842. Mr. Smithurst visited Cumberland and baptized 87 adults and their children. 

Rev. A. and Mrs. Cowley commenced the Mission at Manitoba, now called Fairford. 

In this year, 1790 attendants on public worship, of whom 456 were communicants. 
1343. Opposition of Romish priest at Cumberland. Mr. Budd's converts remained steadfast. 

1844. Rev. J. and Mrs. Hunter joined the Mission at Cumberland. 31 adults and 37 children 

baptized by Mr. Hunter. 
The Bishop of Montreal visited the Mission at Red River, and held confirmations at each 
of the four churches. 

1845. Mr. Cockran commenced the erection of a stone church at the Grand Rapids to accom- 

modate the increased congregation. 

1846. Mr. Cockran compelled by failing health to retire for a time from the Mission. 

The Rev. R. and Mrs. James joined the Mission and took charge of Mr. Cockran's con- 
gregation at the Grand Rapids. 
A noted conjurer and his wife, from Lac-la-Ronge, baptized by Mr. Hunter at Cumberland. 



Appendix. 



1847. Mr. Cockran accepted an invitation from the Hudson's Bay Company to act as chaplain to 
the Upper Church. 

Missionary meeting held in the church at the Grand Rapids, the first public meeting ever 
held in Rupert's Land. 

1849. Rupert's Land formed into a diocese. The Rev. D. Anderson appointed Bishop. He 

arrived at Red River in October, accompanied by Rev. J. and Mrs. Hunt and Mr. 
Chapman. The Bishop fixed his residence in the Upper Settlement, now the City 
of Winnipeg, and undertook the superintendence of the school for native boys. 

The Bishop consecrated the new church of St. Andrew's at the Grand Rapids. 

Mr. Chapman ordained by Bishop Anderson in St. Andrew's Church on Dec. 23. 

Mr. Chapman appointed to the Middle Church. 

1850. A Missionary meeting held at the Grand Rapids, and a Church Missionary Association for 

Rupert's Land organized. 
The Bishop held a confirmation : nearly 400 persons confirmed. 

Henry Budd ordained by Bishop Anderson at the Upper Church on Dec. 22. Mr. 
Chapman and Mr. Taylor, who had recently joined the Mission, v/ere ordained priests 
at the same time. 

On Christmas Day, the Rev. H. Budd, the first ordained native of Rupert's Land, preached 
his first sermon in Indian. 



RED RIVER, &c. 

1850. Moose Lake placed in charge of Native 

catechist, John Umfreville. 

1851. The Rev. R. James commenced a 

Mission at Chien Blanc, or Islington. 

A Christian Indian placed in charge 

of the Mission. 
The Rev. W. Cockran commenced a 

Mission at Prairie-La-Portage on the 

Assiniboine River. 
Rev. R. James returned to England on 

account of the failure of his health. 
The Rev. J. Hunter appointed to charge 

of the Grand Rapids. 
A Mission commenced at Fort Pelly 

on the Assiniboine. Charles Pratt, 

native catechist, placed in charge. 
Rev. C. Hillyer arrived at Red River 

in September. 
Rev. W. Cockran commenced a Mission 

at Broken Head River, to which the 

name of Scanterbury was given. 

1352. A schoolroom built and village com- 
menced at Scanterbury. 

A new stone church erected at the 
Indian Settlement, the Indians contri- 
buting towards the expense. 

Rev. J. Hunter returned to Cumber- 
land ; he completed the translation of 
the Gospel of St. Matthew and of the 
Acts of the Apostles. 

Mr. W. W. Kirkby arrived at Red 
River, appointed to the Mastership 
of the Model Training School. 

Great Flood at Red River, and great 
distress in consequence. 

Alarm felt in the Settlement on account 
of the warlike demonstrations of the 
Sioux Indians. 

Rev. H. Budd commenced a Mission at 
Nepowewin. 

A Romish Bishop and Priest arrived at 
Isle a la Crosse. 



HUDSON'S BAY. 



Mr. John Horden arrived at Moose Fort to 
take up the Mission which the Wesleyans 
had vacated. 



Bishop Anderson visited Moose Fort, confirmed 
105 Indians, and ordained Mr. Horden. 

Rev. E. A. Watkins and Mrs. Watkins arrived 
from England and proceeded to Fort George, 
where they commenced a Mission. The 
Gospel eagerly received by the Indians. 



Chronological Table of Events. 



205 



RED RIVER, &c. HUDSON'S BAY. 

1852. Rev. R. Hunt visited English River. 
Rev. A. Cowley visited Fort Pelly. 
Rev. C. Hillyer appointed to Fort Pelly. 
Mr. Macdonald ordained by Bishop 

Anderson. Ninety persons confirmed 

by the Bishop. 
Bishop Anderson visited Cumberland 

and English Rivers. 
650 communicants in this Mission. 



1853. Indians at Portage-la- Prairie petitioned The Rev. E. A. Watkins preached his first 
the C.M.S. for a Missionary. sermon in the Cree tongue. 

Rev. R, Hunt transferred the Mission 

at Lac-la-Ronge to English River. 
Mr. James Settee, Native Catechist, 
ordained. 

Rev. J. Hunter returned to England. 
Rev. H. Budd took charge of Cumber- 
land. 

Archdeacon Cockran took charge of the 
parish of St. Andrew's. 



1854. Rev. W. and Mrs. Stagg joined the 
Fairford Mission. 

Rev. A. Cowley transferred to the 
Indian Settlement. 

Rev. C. Hillyer itinerated in the country 
around Fort Pelly. 

Rev. W. Cockran organized the 
" Indian Home," at the Grand Rapids, 
for Indian orphans, and for children 
given up by heathen parents for Chris- 
tian education. 

Mr. Stagg's residence at Fairford des- 
troyed by fire ; much sympathy shown 
by the Indians. 

Bishop Anderson visited Fairford. 

Rev. H. Budd baptized the Chief 
Mahnsuk and his wife, who bitterly 
opposed Mr. Budd when he commenced 
the Mission at Nepowewin. 

Mr. W. W. Kirkby ordained by Bishop 
Anderson on Dec. 24. 



Mr. W. Mason ordained by Bishop Anderson 
in June. 

Rev. W. Mason commenced a Mission at York 

Fort on Hudson's Bay. 
Dr. Rae visited the Mission at York Fort on 

his return from his last Arctic expedition. 
A printing press sent from England to the Rev, 

J. Horden at Moose Fort, by means of which 

he printed during the winter 1600 books in 

three dialects. 



1855. Archdeacon Hunter returned to Red 
River. 

Archdeacon Cockran went to La 
Prairie and erected a substantial oak 
church, the Indians giving their labour, 
and the remainder of the cost being 
defrayed by voluntary gifts from the 
Governor, and Bishop of Rupert's 
Land, and friends at Red River. 

Rev. A. Cowley itinerated in the plains 
south of the Saskatchewan, visiting 
Qu'Appelle and Beaver Creek. 

The Rev. H. George commenced a 
Mission at Fort Alexander. 

The Rev. R. Macdonald appointed 
to the Mission at Chien Blanc 
(Islington). 

Rev. W. Stagg and Luke Caldwell 
visited Fort Pelly and the Touchwood 
Hills. 



The Rev. E. A. Watkins translated the Gospels 
of St. John and St. Luke into the dialect of 
the Indians at Fort George. 

Bishop Anderson visited Moose Fort a second 
time. 



206 



Appendix. 



RED RIVER, &c. 

1856. Rev. J. Settee joined the Mission at 

Fairford. 

Rev. C. Hillyer returned to England 
on account of health. 

Rev. H. George appointed to Cumber- 
land. 

Rev. A. Cowley returned to the Indian 
Settlement, and was affectionately 
welcomed by the Indians. 

Bishop Anderson returned to England 
for a time. 

1857. Archdeacon Cockran took charge of La 

Prairie. 

Mr. C. B. Mayhew succeeded Mr. 

Kirkby in the Mastership of St. 

Andrew's Model School. 
Bishop Anderson returned to Red River. 
Rev. J. Settee transferred to Fort Pelly. 
Mr. H. Cochrane, a native, ordained by 

Bishop Anderson. 
Bishop Anderson confirmed thirty-nine 

persons at Fairford. 

1858. Great privations endured by Rev. R. 

Hunt and family at English River in 
consequence of the non-arrival of the 
annual supplies. 
Some of the Christian Indians at 
English River were guilty of heathen 
practices ; a day of humiliation and 
prayer set apart by Mr. Hunt. 

1859. Mr. C. B. Mayhew returned to Eng- 

land. 

Rev. H. George commenced a Mission 
at the White Mud River, to which 
the name of Westbourne was given. 



1860. Loyal addresses to the Prince of Wales 

from the clergy and laity of Red 
River presented by Bishop Anderson 
and graciously accepted by the 
Prince. 

Great privations experienced by Rev. 
E. A. Watkins at Cumberland in 
consequence of the loss of the ship 
" Kitty " with the Mission supplies. 

Rev. T. T. Smith joined the Rev. R. 
Hunt at English River. The name 
of Stanley given to this Mission by 
Bishop Anderson. 

1861. The week of prayer observed at Red 

River. 

Three natives, Mr. J. Mackay, Mr. H. 

Budd, and Mr. Cook ordained by 

Bishop Anderson. 
Rev. T. Cook appointed to Cumber- 
land. 

Rev. W. Stagg itinerated amongst the 
Plain Crees and visited Fort Pelly 
and the Touchwood Hills. 



HUDSON'S BAY. 



Rev. T. Fleming joined the Mission. 

The Hudson's Bay Company having abandoned 
their station at Fort George, the Mission was 
relinquished and the Rev. E. A. Watkins 
removed to Cumberland Station. 



The Rev. W. Mason ^ returned to England to 
superintend the printing of the New Testa- 
ment in the Cree dialect and in syllabic cha- 
racters. 

The Rev. J. P. Gardiner took charge of the 
Mission at York Fort. Mr. W. Vincent 
joined the Mission. 



The Rev. J. Horden printed the four Gospels 
in Cree. 

The Rev. W. and Mrs. Mason completed the 
translation of the whole Bible into Cree. 

Rev. T. Fleming accomplished a journey of 500 
miles on snow-shoes to visit the Esquimaux. 

Bishop Anderson visited Moose Fort, held a 
confirmation, and ordained Mr. T. Vincent. 

The Rev. T. Vincent established a Mission at 
Albany. 

Mr. J. A. Mackay, Native catechist, joined 

the Mission at Moose Fort. 
The Rev. J. P. Gardiner visited Churchill. 



Chronological Table of Events. 



MACKENZIE RIVER, &c. 



NORTH PACIFIC. 



207 



Mr. W. Duncan arrived at Fort Simpson in 
British Columbia, and commenced a Mission 
amongst the Tsimshean Indians. 



Archdeacon Hunter commenced an itinerating 
Mission amongst the Tinne tribes around 
Fort Simpson on the Mackenzie. 



In June Mr. Duncan preached his first sermon 

in Tsimshean. 
Commenced school in the house of a chief. 
Opposed by the head chief. 



Archdeacon Hunter returned to Red River. Mr. Duncan made his first attempt at printing 

Rev. W. W. Kirkby appointed to the per- in the Tsimshean language, 

manent charge of the Mackenzie River dis- 
trict. 



Mr. Duncan visited the Nishkah Indians on 

the Naas River. 
The Rev. L. S, Tugwell joined the Mission. 



Mr. Tugwell baptized 19 Converts and their 
children, 

Mr. Tugwell compelled to withdraw from the 
Mission in consequence of the failure of his 
health, 



208 



Appendix. 



RED RIVER. &c. 

1862. Mr. John Mackay ordained by Bishop 
Anderson. 

Great progress at the Westbourne 
Mission. 

Alarm excited at Westbourne by the 
warlike demonstrations of the Sioux. 

Excitement at Red River occasioned 
by the Sioux wars. 

Bishop Anderson confirmed seventy- 
nine persons at the Indian Settlement 
in June. 

Fairford visited by Bishop Anderson 
and twenty-three persons confirmed. 

Discouraging aspect of Fairford Mission 
in consequence of the sale of spirits 
to the Indians by the free traders. 

Great temptations put in the way of the 
Christian Indians at Cumberland by 
the free traders, who exchanged rum 
for furs. The chief men amongst the 
Indians held a council and signed an 
agreement refusing to barter furs for 
spirits. 

Rev. E. A. Watkins compiled a Cree 
Dictionary, and visited the Missions at 
Nepowewin, Moose Lake, and Cum- 
berland. 

The Rev. R. Hunt left English River 
in June, to return to England. This 
Mission also suffered from the inroads 
of the free traders, the Indians being 
dispersed in consequence and few 
visiting the Mission. 

The Rev. T. Smith took charge of 
English River, and formed an advanced 
post in the Chipewyan country, at the 
earnest request of the Chipewyans, 
who were eager for religious instruc- 
tion. 

Two new churches erected at La Prairie 
by Archdeacon Cockran. 

Rev. J. Settee and Rev. W. Stagg 
itinerated amongst the Plain Crees. 
Frequent wars between the Crees and 
Blackfeet rendered these journeys 
dangerous. 

Archdeacon Hunter visited Fort Alex- 
ander. Much progress at this Mis- 
sion. A Mission House erected 2nd 
Indian farms commenced. 

Native Communicants at Red River 
numbered 1019. 

A new cathedral church (St. John's) 
erected at Red River at the expense 
of the Colony. 

A party of Sioux in warlike costume, 
and fully armed, visited Bishop Ander- 
son's residence. The Bishop ad- 
dressed them through an interpreter. 

The Rev. J. Mackay, native pastor, 
appointed to Cumberland in the 
absence of the Rev. E, A. Watkins, 
who had returned to England. 



HUDSON'S BAY. 

The Rev. W. Mason arrived at York Factory 
in August, on his return from England, re- 
ceived a warm welcome froin the Christian 
Indians. A church built by the Hudson's 
Bay Company at York Fort. 

Mr. J. Mackay left for Red River. 

Rev. J. P. Gardiner removed to Churchill. 



Chronological Table of Events. 209 



MACKENZIE RIVER. NORTH PACIFIC. 

Rev. W. W. Kirkby crossed the northern spurs Mr. Duncan removed his converts to Metla- 

of the Rocky Mountains, and preached to the katlah, and commenced the formation of a 

tribes around Fort Youcon. . model village. 

Rev. R. Macdonald arrived in the Youcon 

district, to take permanent charge of the 

Youcon Mission. 



P 



2IO 



Appendix. 



RED RIVER, &c. 

1863. Fugitive Sioux from the United States 

sought refuge at Red River, and filled 
the settlement with consternation. 

Fires raged in the woods in the English 
River district, which frightened the 
animals away and cut off the means 
of obtaining food. 

The Indians at Touchwood Hills con- 
tributed ^62 2 s - ^d. towards the 
erection of their church. 

1864. Rev. R. Phair joined the Mission, and 

appointed to the charge of Fort 
Alexander (Lansdowne) and Islington, 
taking the oversight also of Lac Seul. 

Luke Caldwell, native catechist, sta- 
tioned at Fort Pelly. 

Rev. J. A. Mackay, native pastor at 
Cumberland, enlarged the Mission 
farm with a view to making the 
Mission self-supporting ; he was en- 
gaged at the same time in translating 
Oxenden's " Pathway of Safety" for 
the use of the Indians when absent on 
their hunting trips. 

Bishop Anderson resigned the diocese 
of Rupert's Land. 

Native Christians at Fort Pelly, on 
Christmas Day, presented to their 
catechist Luke Caldwell, £7 2s, 6d. as 
a token of their gratitude to him. 

1865. Rev. J. P. Gardiner returned to Red 

River. 

Archdeacon Hunter returned to Eng- 
land. 

Archdeacon Cockran died at Portage-la- 
Prairie, having laboured exactly forty 
years at Red River. Great grief 
manifested by the Indians at his death. 
Rev. H. George took charge of La 
Prairie. 

Dr. Machray, the newly-appointed 

Bishop of Rupert's Land, arrived at 

Red River in October. 
Rev. R. Phair took charge of St. 

Andrew's parish. 
Great improvement amongst Europeans 

at Fort Carlton, in consequence of Mr. 

Budd's preaching. 
Rev. W. Stagg returned to England on 

account of health. Rev. J. Settee 

took charge of Fairford Mission. 
Rev. J. A. Mackay appointed to the 

Stanley Mission on English River. 

1868, Rev. H. Cochrane, native pastor, ap- 
pointed to the Indian Settlement. 
The Chief of the Indians at Lans- 
downe baptized with his wife and 
child. 

Rev. T. T. Smith removed to Devon. 

1867. Red River visited by flood. 

Locusts, famine, and sickness of an 



HUDSON'S BAY. 

A church erected by Rev. W. Vincent at 

Albany. 

Great anxiety at York Fort on account of the 
non-arrival of the " Ocean Nymph" with the 
Mission supplies. 

Rev. J. P. Gardiner returned to England. 



The Salteaux Indians of Lac-la- Pluie began to 
teach each other to read the syllabic cha- 
racters. 

The Hudson's Bay Company erected a new 
church at Moose Fort. 



The Rev. J. Horden returned to England. 

The native pastor, Rev. W. Vincent, took 

charge of the Mission at Moose Fort during 

Mr. Horden's absence. 
Indians commenced evangelistic efforts among 

their countrymen. 



Bishop Machray visited York Fort, confirmed 
fifty-one Indians and four Europeans. 

The Rev. W. Mason visited Churchill, and 
instructed the Chipewyan Indians and Es- 
quimaux, who frequent the Fort during the 
summer. 

The Rev. J. Horden returned to Moose Fort. 
1000 Native Christians in this Mission. 



Chronological Table of Events. 211 



MACKENZIE RIVER, &c. 
Rev. R. Macdonald itinerated amongst the 
Tukuthe tribes on the banks of the Youcon. 



NORTH PACIFIC. 

The Bishop of Columbia visited the Mission, 
and baptized a large number of persons. 

Rev. R. J. Dundas visited Metlakatlah, and 
baptized thirty-eight adults, and thirteen 
children. 



A chief of the Tukuthe died in the faith of 
Christ, exhorting his people to become Chris- 
tians. 



Some of the Christian Indians visited Fort 
Simpson, and preached to their countrymen. 

The Rev. A. R. Doolan joined the Mission, 
and commenced a Mission on the Naas 
River. 



Rev. W. C. Bompas joined the Mackenzie 
River Mission. 



Rev. \V. C. Bompas itinerated amongst the 
tribes scattered around the shores of Great 
Bear Lake, and Slave Lake. 



The Bishop of Columbia visited the Mission a 
second time, and baptized sixty-five adults. 



150 persons baptized during the year, and the 
same number of candidates preparing for 
baptism. 



The Governor of British Columbia visited 
Metlakatlah. 



P 2 



214 



Appendix. 



RED RIVER, &c. HUDSON'S BAY. 

1871. Luke Caldwell ordained at the Indian The Rev. J. Horden visited Rupert's House, 
Settlement by Bishop Machray, July East Main, Fort George, Great Whale River, 
25. Little Whale River. 

Rev. W. W. Kirkby visited Churchill and in- 
structed the Chipewyans and Esquimaux 
who congregate at the Fort. 



1872. Great progress at Lansdowne. 

Rev. J. Grisdale joined the Mission, 

and appointed to St. Andrew's parish. 
Rev. J. P. and Mrs. Gardiner returned 

to England. 
Garden River Mission transferred to the 

Church organization of the Dominion 

of Canada. 



1873. 



1874* Archdeacon McLean consecrated at 
Lambeth to the newly-formed Diocese 
of Saskatchewan. 

Mr. J. Reader joined the Mission, 
and appointed to the Touchwood Hills. 

Mr. J. Hines joined the Mission and 
appointed to the Green Lake in the 
Saskatchewan Plain, where it is pro- 
posed to form an agricultural settle- 
ment for the Plain Indians. 

Rev. R. and Mrs. Phair returned to Red 
River and appointed to commence 
a Mission at Fort Francis on Rainy 
Lake. 

Mr. J. Reader and Mr. A. J. Shaw 
ordained at Winnipeg by Bishop 
Machray, June 11. 

Rev. Henry Cochrane, Native Pastor, of 
the Indian Settlement, Red River, 
appointed to English River ; and 
Rev. J. A. Mackay, of English River, 
to the Indian Settlement. 

Rev. J. Grisdale appointed Professor of 
Systematic Theology at St. John's 
College, Winnipeg. 

Rev. R. Young appointed to St. An- 
drew's, Grand Rapids, in succession 
to Mr. Grisdale. 



Rev. J. Horden visited Matawakumme. Great 
progress at this Mission. Much assistance 
rendered to the Mission by Mr. Richards, 
the Hudson's Bay Officer in charge. 

The Rev. J. Horden returned to England, and 
was consecrated to the diocese ofMoosonee 
on December 15th. 

The Rev. W. W. Kirkby visited Trout Lake 
and Severn,, and baptized 104 adults and 
children, and placed a native catechist 
(John Harper) in charge of Trout Lake. 

Great progress at Trout Lake, the Indians 
contributing out of their poverty to the 
support of the Mission. 

The Rev. W. W. Kirkby visited Churchill, 
remaining nearly four months, instructing the 
Chipewyans, translating two Gospels, ten 
hymns, the Litany, the Morning Service, 
the Communion, Baptismal, Marriage and 
Burial Services, into the Chipewyan dialect. 

Bishop Horden returned to Moose Fort and 
confirmed thirty-six persons in September. 

The Rev. T. Vincent visited Mistasinee and 
Rupert's House, warmly welcomed at both 
places by native Christians. 



Chronological Table of Events. 2 1 5 



MACKENZIE RIVER, &c. NORTH PACIFIC 

ev. R. Macdonald returned to Red River on Mr. Duncan returned to Metlakatlah after an 
leave of absence to recruit his health. absence of thirteen months, and was joyfully 

welcomed by the Indians. 
A hospital opened by Mr. Tomlinson at Kin- 

colith on the Naas River. 
Mr. Duncan commenced building a new church 
and large and commodious workshops. 

Rev. W. C. Bompas carried on the itinerating 750 Native Christians, 
work in the Youcon district. The Gospel 
joyfully received by the Youcon Indians. 



Rev. R. Macdonald returned to Fort Youcon, Mr. W. H. Collison joined the Mission. Mr. 

Duncan commenced laying out a new and 
enlarged town, to accommodate the increas- 
ing population. 

Dec. 3rd. The day of prayer for Missions 
observed at Metlakatlah. 

The heathen customs at Fort Simpson for the 
first time generally disregarded, in conse- 
quence of the evangelistic labours of the 
Christian Indians at Metlakatlah. 



Rev. W. C. Bompas returned to England, and 
consecrated to the Bishopric of Athabasca on 
May 3rd. 

Bishop Bompas returned to the Mackenzie 
River district, accompanied by Mr. A. J. 
Shaw, to be stationed at Fort Vermilion on 
Peace River ; Mr. Shaw being ordained at 
Winnipeg en route. 



For last Statistical Returns^ see pages 200—202. 



LONDON : 

gilbert and rivington, printers, 
st. John's square. 



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